


The Hellcats of Collège Françoise Dupont

by JamieHasCatEyes



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bullying, Enemies to Enemies to Unwilling Allies, Gen, Humiliation, Major OOC, No Kwamies, No miraculous AU, Prank Wars, battle of the sexes, no superpowers, toxic behaviour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 43,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieHasCatEyes/pseuds/JamieHasCatEyes
Summary: The infamous all-girl's school, Collège Françoise Dupont, is in the grip of a crisis. After the girls' destructive pursuit of entertainment, school funds have been depleted, leaving them broke. Now, unable to afford repairs, Principal Damocles does the unthinkable. To raise the required cash, they're going co-ed!Can the girls take back their school, or will they have to resign themselves to a life surrounded by boys?
Comments: 110
Kudos: 193





	1. Marinette

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very loosely based St. Trinians AU, and should not be taken seriously.  
> Yes, everyone is horrible and majorly out of character. Just shush up and let me have my fun. Seriously, though, I do not condone the behaviour in this fic, so don't try to replicate it.  
> I've been working on this fic off and on for over a year now. Maybe now that I've finally begun posting it, I'll be motivated into actually finishing it. I have to admit, I've written myself into a corner, and don't know how to wrap it up without it sounding like a rushed cop-out.  
> Thank you for your attention, and enjoy chapter one!

Marinette blew a bubble with her chewing gum as Principal Damocles circled the mass of girls to take his place on the podium. It was a standard beginning-of-semester assembly, but an uneasy ripple ran through the crowd in his wake.

Rumours had spread that the Board of Education had not looked favourably upon their school during their last inspection, leading many to believe there would be massive budget cuts, if not a total loss of funding altogether.

Principal Damocles approached the microphone, and cleared his throat.

‘Good morning, girls,’ he boomed jovially. ‘Welcome back to another invigorating semester of learning, socialising, and mutual respect.’

Someone in the crowd snorted derisively.

Principal Damocles either didn’t notice, or chose to ignore the interruption. ‘As you may have heard, the school board had a few, e-hem, criticisms concerning our facility while they were here. I’m sure their issues were nothing personal, but unfortunately, what this means for us is a serious cut in funding. With deepest regrets, and my sincerest apologies, I’m afraid the seniors’ class trip is no longer going forward.’

Marinette's bubble popped as all of her classmates shrieked in protest.

‘That’s not fair,’ Alix yelled, her strident tones rising easily above the others. ‘We’ve been looking forward to this for years. You promised us.’

Principal Damocles held up his hands in a placating gesture. ‘I know, and I’m sorry. Your disappointment is understandable, but it can’t be helped. We simply cannot afford it at this time. There are more pressing concerns which must take priority, such as new text books, the faulty air conditioner in the library, the crumbling brickwork, as well as the plumbing in the second-floor restroom. The list goes on.’

‘This is bull,’ muttered Juleka darkly.

Rose gave her a worried glance, then raised her hand.

‘Yes, Mademoiselle Lavillant?’ Principal Damocles said.

‘What is the school going to do to raise the required funds?’ she asked, ‘and will it be enough to cover our class trip?’

‘I’m so glad you asked,’ he cheered, with a delighted clap. ‘I have some very exciting news for you all.’

The mutinous rumblings subsided to a cautious murmur.

‘As of next week,’ he went on gleefully, ‘our out-dated girls’ school, _Collège Françoise Dupont_ , will be going co-ed. Isn’t that wonderful?’

There was a moment of eerie silence, then the girls all screamed simultaneously in outrage.

‘You can’t be serious,’ yelled Alya.

‘I can’t believe you would even entertain the idea of ruining the sanctity of our safe haven,’ added _Chloé_ in a shrill voice.

Mylène sobbed, her face in her hands, as Rose and Mireille tried to comfort her.

Marinette was the only one who remained silent. She blew another large, pink bubble, then let it pop. The sound carried through her immediate vicinity, her classmates turning to look, before a painful hope bloomed in their eyes. She was their class representative; if anyone could think of a solution, it would be her.

‘Just think of what the extra income could mean for our school,’ Principal Damocles continued, blind to their distress. ‘Each new student means extra cash in the coffers. We’ll be able to get those text books and structural repairs done in no time.’

‘What about our class trip?’ demanded Alix.

Principal Damocles shook his head. ‘Even with the new revenue source, we still wouldn’t be able to go ahead. As there would be more students, the fees would rise accordingly. I’m sure you understand.’

The first bell of the day rang. The student body dispersed, still muttering mutinously among themselves. Marinette's classmates fell into step around her, casting sideways glances and expectant looks at her. She popped another bubble.

‘We’ll talk at lunch,’ she told them.

* * *

During the break, Marinette gathered her classmates and sat them down in her room. Chloé and Lila took the desk chairs; Juleka, Rose, and Mylène perched on the chaise, while Alix sprawled on the floor by their feet. Sabrina hovered behind Chloé’s seat, wringing her hands nervously as she stared at the floor.

Marinette paced before them while she collected her thoughts, her brow furrowed while she tapped her chin.

‘It seems, ladies, that we have shot ourselves in the foot,’ she began.

‘How so?’ asked Alya. She leaned against the wall behind Marinette, tapping and scowling at her phone, as she looked through the school’s databases.

Marinette sighed. ‘Remember last semester, when we had that bonfire in the school courtyard?’

Alya looked up at her. ‘Yeah?’

‘We used most of our textbooks to fuel that fire, which is why we need new ones now.’

Rose giggled. ‘Oh yeah. That was fun.’

‘Whoever invented s’mores was a freaking genius,’ agreed Alix.

‘Then there was the incident in the library,’ Marinette went on.

‘I wanted to see snow,’ explained Juleka.

‘I know, but filling the air conditioning vents with beanbag stuffing ruined the unit, and in the middle of summer, no less.’

‘It was really pretty, though,’ Mylène opined, with a smile.

‘Then there’s the crumbling façade,’ Marinette pressed on.

Alya crossed her arms. ‘How was I supposed to know the trashcan would fly into it at such a high velocity?’

‘Wasn’t it your science project?’ drawled Chloé.

‘The great garbage bin fireworks display.’ Lila smiled wistfully. ‘It was a thing of beauty.’

Marinette cleared her throat. ‘Lastly, may I remind you all of the toilets on the second floor?’

‘Geez, you flush one lousy cherry bomb, and suddenly you’re responsible for sending the school bankrupt,’ groused Alix.

‘I’m not saying any one incident was responsible for our school’s current financial crisis,’ Marinette clarified. ‘We’ve all inflicted our share of the damage. Unfortunately, our fun has now circled around to bite us in the rear.’

The mood in the room plummeted.

‘So, what are we to do?’ asked Sabrina. ‘I don’t want a gang of filthy boys polluting our school.’

‘Neither do I,’ Chloé added. ‘Everything they touch turns to crap.’

The other girls voiced their agreement, their volume rising with the force of their displeasure.

‘Be quiet,’ Marinette ordered. ‘We’re in this mess now, and we only have ourselves to blame. The question is, what are we going to do about it?’

‘Is there anything we can do?’ asked Alya. She held out her phone, showing them the school’s financial records. ‘According to this, the school is in desperate need of cash. Going co-ed may be the only way to save it.’

Marinette resumed pacing, the others following the movement with anxious expressions.

‘Ok, so we may not be able to prevent Principal Damocles from going ahead with this, but that doesn’t mean that the boys will want to stay.’

‘After going through the rigmarole of transferring in, why would they want to leave again?’ questioned Lila with a raised brow.

Marinette smirked.


	2. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly can't believe I'm back on my bullshit with another AU.  
> Anyway, do not try any of what you're going to read in this fic at home. These are dangerous stunts and should not be performed by anyone.

The day dawned warm yet overcast, a slight breeze pushed the humid air around, which brought the promise of a storm later. Adrien hoped it wasn’t a portent of doom. He had argued long and hard with his father, and now his persistence was finally going to pay off. He was going to school.

He got ready and was out the door in less than an hour after waking. Standing by the car, he wriggled in excited anticipation while he waited for Gorilla.

‘Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up,’ he urged, as Gorilla lumbered down the stairs, and held the car door open for him.

Adrien climbed in, tugged on the seatbelt, then sat up straight with his hands in his lap. He tried to control his expression, but it was no use; he grinned wide during the entire short trip to his new school.

Upon arriving, Adrien saw a group of other boys his age huddled to one side of the front steps. Girls glided by, giggling with each other in small groups or in pairs, their bags swinging from loose fingers as they marched inside.

Adrien spilled out of the car, barely catching himself before he tripped. Calling a hasty farewell, he slammed the car door shut, then strode forward to meet the other boys.

‘Good morning,’ he said as he reached them, one hand up in greeting.

He received a scattered reply, barely above a murmur. Looking at them closely, he realised the other boys seemed unsure, even nervous.

Clearing his throat, he decided to break the ice and introduce himself.

‘My name’s Adrien, it’s nice to meet you. I just started here today, so I hope we can all be friends.’

A boy in a red cap and glasses standing next to him gave him a quizzical look.

‘We all started here today.’

Adrien beamed at him. ‘Really? What a coincidence.’

The other boys regarded him with disbelief clear on their faces.

‘You don’t know, do you?’ asked the first boy.

‘Know what?’

There was a moment of weighted silence.

‘Dude.’

Exasperation began to bubble up Adrien’s chest. ‘Ok, what do you know that I don’t?’

A smaller boy, in a green shirt and suspenders, straightened his glasses. ‘This used to be an all girl’s school, but due to financial difficulties, was recently forced to go co-ed. This particular school,’ he trailed off, warily eyeing a pair of girls walking by.

‘This place has a bad reputation,’ whispered a slender redhead. He gripped his bag tight, almost protectively, against his chest.

Adrien tilted his head as he squinted at them.

‘Oh, I get it,’ he said, his expression clearing. ‘Hazing the new guy. Real mature, you guys.’

The first boy clapped a hand over Adrien’s shoulder, his face serious. ‘It’s true, man.’

Adrien did not allow himself to be fooled. ‘Yeah, right. You probably heard about the new kid last week, then met up over the weekend to brainstorm ways to try to freak me out. Well, it’s not going to work.’

A tall boy in a red hoodie shook his head. ‘Most of us don’t even know each other. Max and I were friends at our old school, but we don’t know anyone else here.’

The redhead nodded. ‘Ivan and I are also from the same school, but we were never that close.’

A large boy wearing a black shirt nodded in confirmation.

‘I’m the only one here from my old school,’ added the first boy. ‘This is the first time I’ve ever met these guys. I’m Nino, by the way.’

The others introduced themselves as Max, Nathaniel, Kim, and Ivan. There was a ripple through the rest of the group, as other boys called out introductions, but Adrien couldn’t remember their names.

After some time talking themselves up and bolstering their nerves, the group moved in a nervous mass up the front steps. Kim and Ivan took the lead, putting on a show of bravery, but Adrien could see the sweat collecting on the backs of their necks.

A susurrus of female voices arose all around them, making the more nervous boys cringe. Sharp eyes and knowing grins followed them, as hands came up to cover their girlish titters. Suddenly, Adrien wasn’t feeling so confident.

Perusing a map, Max steered them to the locker room, where they had to split up to find their lockers.

There were girls here too, watching the boys divide their number with predatory eyes.

_Shouldn’t the girls have a separate locker room?_ Adrien wondered.

He found his locker a few minutes later, after scanning a number of rows for his name. He unlocked it, but before he could swing the door open there was a deep, muffled boom from a locker somewhere behind his.

Looking up, he saw a shimmering cloud descend on the aisle he had just come from. Racing back, he turned the corner to see a boy, whose name escaped him, staring in shock as pink and gold glitter rained over him. In his locker sat the crumbling remains of a crude glitter bomb.

A group of girls came running in, their eyes wide with horror. Two of them stepped forward, one with short dark hair, the other dressed in bright pink. Together, they brushed the glitter from the boy’s hair and shoulders, muttering apologies.

‘I’m so sorry,’ babbled the one in pink. ‘Someone must’ve set that prank up last semester. I’m sure it was meant for one of last year’s seniors.’

‘We didn’t think these lockers would be reassigned,’ explained the other girl. ‘Do you need to see the nurse?’

‘No,’ the boy yelped as he backed away from them. ‘Stay away from me.’

The pair exchanged a look, pouting.

‘I don’t think he wants our assistance, Rose,’ said one.

Rose smacked her fist into her palm as if she had just come to a realisation. ‘I think I know what’s wrong.’

She turned to the boy, smiling reassuringly. ‘Whatever rumours you’ve heard about our school, they’re all blatantly untrue. None of you have anything to fear here. Isn’t that right, Mireille?’

Mireille nodded, her expression smoothing into a gentle smile.

‘Don’t do it,’ hissed another boy. ‘It’s gotta be a trap.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Adrien interrupted. ‘Look at them, they’re just being nice, and are trying to help.’ He indicated the two girls with an impatient gesture.

‘Exactly. We’re trying to help,’ intoned Mireille.

The other boy backed away, watching her warily.

Rose hooked the glitter bomb victim around the elbow, murmuring reassurances while she led him away. Mireille followed, leaving them with a friendly wave.

A chilly silence descended. Looking around, Adrien saw all of the girls were gone.

_Probably scared off by the explosion_ , he reasoned.

Returning to his locker, he sorted his books and closed it again, before meeting up with the rest of the guys. He was pleasantly surprised to discover he would be in the same class as his new friends, so he followed them to their new classroom, once again directed by Max.

When they arrived, it was to find that their female classmates had already selected their seats, dispersed throughout the room. Most of them sat in pairs, which made choosing a place to sit easier for the boys, though they approached their new places with trepidation.

‘Wait, Chloé? Is that you?’

He couldn’t believe his good fortune. Adrien bounded toward his childhood friend eagerly. They hadn’t met with each other since Gabriel enforced a lockdown after Emilie’s death, but Chloé still looked just as he remembered her.

‘This is crazy. I didn’t know you attended this school. How have you been?’

The look she gave him was frigid. ‘Hello, Adrien.’

He blinked, nonplussed. When they were children, she had always greeted him enthusiastically with kisses and silly nicknames. Now, she treated him like a stranger.

‘Is everything ok, Chloé? Aren’t you glad to see me?’

Instead of answering, she looked toward the front of the classroom and ignored him.

Hurt and confused, Adrien dropped into the vacant seat behind him.

Kim and Max stuck together as they scurried to a bench across the room. Ivan set his jaw and took a place in the middle of the near row, while Nino threw himself into the seat closest to the door, leaving Nathaniel on his own.

He climbed the stairs up the middle of the room slowly, darting furtive glances at the girls he passed. He first approached Ivan, but his bulk left no room for a desk mate. Taking a deep breath, Nathaniel continued upward, tentatively approaching the last seat next to a girl in the back. The girl smiled welcomingly, shifting to one side in invitation. Nathaniel gulped audibly before sitting down.

The teacher entered then, calling for their attention.

‘Oh shit,’ Nino hissed on Adrien’s left. ‘Even the teacher’s a woman.’

Adrien raised an eyebrow. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Dude, haven’t you been listening? The girls here are completely mental. If push comes to shove, which side do you think the teacher’s going to take?’

‘What? You make it sound like a war is brewing.’

‘It may well be,’ he replied ominously.

They both faced the front as their teacher introduced herself as Madame Caline Bustier. She began the lesson with no evidence of bias or preferential treatment, leaving Adrien to wonder if Nino was being hyperbolic, or if there was some substance to his paranoia.

If nothing else, Madame Bustier had a history and a connection with her female students that she obviously didn’t have with the boys.

Adrien bit his lip.


	3. Chloé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An early update because it's my birthday and I do what I want

The lunch bell rang just as Madame Bustier concluded her lecture. Chloé buffed her nails on her shirt, then packed up her belongings. She exited the room without acknowledging Adrien’s wave, choosing instead to pretend she hadn’t seen it.

She sighed. For years she had dreamt of marrying him one day, except now fate had intervened, dashing her adolescent fantasies.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Sabrina, as she wrung her hands.

‘I’m fine.’

‘You don’t look fine,’ observed a new voice.

Chloé turned to look down her nose at Alix, only to find all of the other girls standing there, watching the exchange closely.

Marinette was looking at her through narrowed eyes. ‘My place, all of you. Now.’

Chloé rolled her eyes, uttering a groan of disdain, but obeyed the command, filing outside after the others like soldiers marching under orders.

They entered Marinette's building through the rear door, then hiked up the stairs in silence. Once they were in Marinette’s room, they took their usual places and waited for her to speak.

She stood before them, her hands on her hips, and her expression serious. ‘I shouldn’t need to say this, but fraternisation with the enemy will not be tolerated. I’m sure you all remember what happened to Aurore after she snitched to Principal Damocles.’

The girls collectively cringed. Then, Marinette turned to Chloé.

‘Would you care to explain your interaction with that boy this morning, Bourgeois?’

Chloé crossed her arms with a scowl. ‘Adrien and I have been friends since we were children. Our mothers were acquainted.’

Alya adjusted her glasses. ‘You don’t think your connection with this boy will compromise your allegiances, do you?’

Chloé’s frown deepened. ‘I don’t like what you’re suggesting, Césaire. My loyalties are to the school; I would never jeopardise that. Besides, I haven’t seen Adrien in over a year. I feel no particular attachment to him anymore.’

A heavy silence fell as everyone looked at her with varying degrees of disbelief.

‘I say we make her prove it,’ Alix grumbled.

The others echoed the sentiment, until Marinette raised her hand, and they quieted.

‘It’s too soon to make our move,’ she said. ‘We need the boys to lower their guard. If Chloé were to act now, our plans may not work.’

‘I don’t see why it matters,’ Alix retorted. ‘Now or later, what difference does it make?’

‘Because,’ Lila cut in, ‘if we give them even an inkling of what we’re going to do, it’ll give them time to regroup and retaliate. Or run off without paying the school fees.’

‘That’s right,’ agreed Alya. ‘Right now, our best advantage is that they’re scattered, and have made no alliances among themselves.’

‘All the more reason to act now,’ Alix interrupted her. ‘We should strike before they come together.’

‘You’re missing a key strategic element here,’ Marinette told her. ‘The boys are ununified, and the longer we continue to undermine their preconceptions, the bigger those cracks will be. Soon, they’ll be fighting among themselves, or coming to realise their opinions aren’t compatible. They’ll think the other boys won’t make for reliable allies, thus remaining divided. This will make it easier for us to pick them off, one by one.’

Rose gasped, clapping delightedly, while Juleka and Mylène nodded knowingly. Lila folded her arms and grinned, as Alix slumped back in defeat.

Marinette turned back to Chloé, one brow raised.

‘Ugh, yes, I get it. My former friendship with Adrien will not come between me and my job, I promise. After all, he is still a boy, and he’s invading my turf. I won’t tolerate that, not even from him. More to the point, do the others know the nuances of this plan?’

‘They’re awaiting orders. Once we get things started, they’ll carry out their own small-scale scare tactics. They’ll follow our lead as we step it up.’

Chloé hummed in consideration, then nodded. In her opinion, Marinette seemed mousy, but she was a strong leader with good ideas, and loyal followers. Alya, her second in command, was clever and sneaky. She always got information relevant to their needs, and doubled as Marinette’s friend and confidant. Together they were formidable, so Chloé would prefer to work with them, rather than against.

There was a light tap on Marinette’s trapdoor, before Sabine stuck her head inside.

‘Are you girls hungry?’ She hefted a large tray laden with an assortment of foodstuffs.

While the others accepted the offering with polite murmurs of thanks, Chloé remained in her seat, thinking. She knew none of her allies would believe her loyalties lay with them until she proved herself, and until then, her every encounter with Adrien would be scrutinised. Her decision to ignore him earlier had been a good one.

Sabrina returned, bringing her a wedge of quiche served on a napkin. Chloé ate it without complaint, wondering how she could convince the girls of her faithfulness before their real plans began.


	4. Nino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for 100 User Subscriptions! ♥

He hated this school already, and it was only his second day. The loneliness, the unfamiliarity, the constant threat the girls posed, and the accompanying dread was enough to make his stomach churn.

Nino understood why his parents made the decision to transfer him. This new school was closer, more affordable, and his parents liked the idea of helping the girls adjust to the presence of boys in a safe environment. However, they were not aware of the girls’ reputation, and Nino was too proud to admit he was afraid of them.

Objectively, they were cute, dainty things who looked no more threatening than a ladybeetle. Unfortunately, their sweet appearances hid a venomous bite, one he was sure would clamp down around his throat the moment he let his guard down.

‘Will you lighten up?’ Adrien nudged him with his shoulder, grinning.

Nino gave him a flat stare. ‘I don’t know whether to pity you, or be envious of your ignorance. I mean, you saw what happened to Duparc yesterday.’

Adrien waved dismissively. ‘Rose and Mireille said it was just a little prank meant for someone else. Besides, Jean wasn’t hurt.’

‘We don’t know that. No one’s seen him since the incident.’

Nino flinched when Kim approached them from behind to sling his arms around both their shoulders.

‘I heard Duparc was taken to hospital. Something about his ears,’ he told them.

‘It’s not surprising,’ added Max, as he came up on Nino’s other side. ‘Standing so close to the blast could have perforated his eardrums.’

Nino clamped his hands protectively over his ears, as his eyes widened and darted from side to side. Adrien shook his head, while Kim gave a low whistle.

Then, Kim brightened, slapping Nino and Adrien on their backs while laughing raucously. Nino suspected it was to hide his nerves as they walked into the school.

Cautiously, Nino approached his locker. The girls still whispered and stared, giggling with each other behind their hands. Shrugging off the feeling of being watched, he unlocked his door, moving with it to use as a shield in case of a booby trap.

When nothing blew up, fell out, or collapsed, he shuffled around to stand in front of it once more. To his relief, everything was accounted for, and nothing looked like it had been tampered with. Nino retrieved his books with a breath of relief.

The next locker over, Adrien watched him with an amused expression.

‘Shut up,’ Nino muttered.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘You were thinking it awful loud.’

On Nino’s other side, Kim closed his locker with a bang. Turning around to lean against it, he winked at a pair of girls as they walked by. They exchanged a look, but kept waking without acknowledging him.

‘You know,’ he began, ‘I’m beginning to wonder if those rumours weren’t all blown out of proportion. I mean, look at these girls. They’re so cute and tiny. There’s no way they would have been able to steal a garbage truck, much less ram it into the school’s rear wall.’

‘I heard they beat up the driver, and tied him to a lamppost before taking it for a joyride,’ Max added.

Kim blew a raspberry between his lips, flapping his hand nonchalantly. ‘No way could a couple of girls do that. Isn’t that right, Munchkin?’

He tousled a passing girl’s hair, giving her a condescending grin. The girl glared balefully back, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

‘What did you just call me?’ she snarled.

Kim rolled his eyes. ‘No need to get your panties in a twist, Shortie. It was just an observation.’

Her eyes narrowed. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, another girl with multicoloured hair gripped her shoulder.

‘Come on, Alix. He’s not worth it.’

Alix’s jaw snapped shut with an audible click. She nodded stiffly, then stalked off, with her friend close behind.

Nino gasped in a deep breath.

‘Do you have a death wish?’ he demanded. ‘That was Alix Kubdel. She’s supposed to be one of the roughest girls here.’

Kim snorted. ‘Please. She’s knee high to a grasshopper. What’s she gonna do, chew on my ankles?’

‘Antagonise her at your own risk,’ murmured Nathaniel as he approached his locker, Ivan coming in beside him.

An argument began, but Nino turned his back on the group. Instead of joining the debate, he slung his bag strap over his shoulder and headed to class, with Adrien at his side. They marched up the stairs, entering the classroom in silence. As Nino took his seat, Adrien waved at the blonde across the aisle.

‘Hey, Chloé.’

She levelled a cool glare at him, before turning away with a sniff, her nose in the air.

Adrien deflated before slumping into his seat. Folding his arms over the desk, he stared into the distance, looking forlorn.

‘You ok, Bro?’ asked Nino, patting his arm.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. I just thought she’d be happier to see me. We’ve been friends since we were toddlers, but it’s been over a year since we last met. She’s probably moved on, or something.’

He looked hurt, so Nino refrained from telling him this was all for the best. He didn’t trust the girls, but there was no reason to attempt to justify his suspicions by slandering Chloé’s name; such an act would be disrespectful to Adrien’s feelings, and make himself look like a thoughtless and insensitive cad. Despite their situation, Nino wanted his new friends to think well of him. He then realised it would be up to him to help Adrien out when the girls inevitably turned on them all, revealing their true natures. But it would still sting to see the pain of betrayal in Adrien’s eyes.

So, Nino feigned sympathy, and inwardly resigned himself to an uncomfortable year.


	5. Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday. Or is it Tuesday? HAPPY DAY. I am so tired.

The rest of the week passed quietly, as the girls watched the boys closely, figuring out their habits and behaviours, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Alix argued vociferously to push their agenda forward after she was insulted by Kim, but Marinette refused. Slowly, the boys were beginning to relax, deceived into believing the rumours they’d heard had all been exaggerated.

The girls did their best to appear as non-threatening as possible, but there were still a few boys who remained wary. The most notable of these were Nathaniel, Ivan, Max, and Nino. They kept a judicious distance from all female students outside of class, keeping their heads down and their mouths shut. 

Lila had been working on Nathaniel, flirting shamelessly with him during class and offering to help him with his science homework. She hadn’t been successful at allaying his fears, or getting him to open up yet, but he seemed flattered by the attention.

Ivan kept to himself. He was a mystery, as he never fully engaged with the other boys, nor did he attempt to befriend any of the girls. Mylène reported that he was kindly and respectful after she had encountered him in the library, but that was it.

Max stayed by Kim’s side, but rather than share his opinions, it appeared to be Max’s job to temper Kim’s boorish behaviour. This made it hard to approach him, but it was quickly revealed that Max was academically brilliant, which could make him a threat later. Marinette would need to keep an eye out for him.

The wariest of them all was Nino. He all but ran in the opposite direction when he saw any girl heading toward him, so seducing him into letting his guard down was not an option.

Marinette tapped her chin thoughtfully. She spun her chair around, drifting to the centre of her room, before an idea struck.

_We don’t need to lower any of their guards,_ she realised _. If we’re careful, we can intimidate the smaller ones with no witnesses, thus heightening their paranoia – especially Nino’s. Alone, they’ll be easy targets, and will have no reason to stay when it all becomes too much for them_.

A wicked grin spread across Marinette’s face. Immediately, she thought of Juleka. She was a master of subtle intimidation and psychological warfare. Marinette sent her a text outlining her new orders. Juleka replied with a single thumbs-up emoji.

Spinning back around, Marinette considered the true mystery in her class. Adrien seemed to put little stock in the rumours, nor did he seem cowed by what was going on around him. This made him a dangerous element. A boy who could not be subdued may become a rallying point for the other males once they realised he could restore their masculine pride.

The strategic course of action would be for her to question Chloé, and see what she could reveal about Adrien’s character. Unfortunately, it was because of their childhood connection that made it unwise to use her against him. Chloé had promised her loyalty to the girls, but until she had proven herself, she was under heavy doubt.

A ding alerted Marinette to an incoming email. It was from Aurore, assuring her that the boys in the other classes were falling for the innocent and wrongfully misjudged act.

Marinette was willing to bet their success was largely due to Mireille. Aurore could smile and flutter her lashes expertly, but only Mireille could project an air of bashful sweetness unparalleled by any in their school. Even Rose acknowledged her charm, claiming it was far superior to her own.

But Marinette was still left with the problem of Adrien Agreste. According to Alya, he had been home-schooled until this year, and hadn’t been seen in public since his mother’s death. He had no records Alya could access, and no former classmates they could question to dig up dirt. It was infuriating.

Marinette decided to text Alya. _What should I do, concerning Agreste?_

Alya’s reply was prompt. _Why should you have to do anything? Just treat him like you would any other guy. He may be a celebrity outside of school, but once he’s inside those walls, he’s ours_.

Marinette nodded; Alya was right. She simply had to torment him just as she would any other boy, whether she had any incriminating evidence against him or not. If anything, his pampered upbringing had probably made him soft. One decent blow to his ego would send him home in tears.

But not yet.

Marinette wanted to wait another week before she began her offensive. One more week to soothe the boys, and manipulate them into lowering their guard. One more week of convincing them they were the superior beings, so they would underestimate the girls. Kim and his cohorts were already well on their way. She was sorry Alix’s pride had to be sacrificed; of all of them, she was the most combative, and after Kim’s insults, she was ready to throw their carefully laid plans aside for immediate revenge.

To further complicate matters, Alix had grown increasingly argumentative. She was a good fighter, but she was also reckless and impulsive. She failed to see the bigger picture, and was now the greatest risk to their plans.

Marinette rubbed her eyes with a sigh. Their plans depended on secrecy, timing, and deception. She had said as much many times over by now, but still Alix resisted. If she blew this for them, she would have to be punished. Marinette disliked having to discipline her troops, but sometimes they didn’t give her a choice, especially if it led to others questioning her ability to lead. The situation with Aurore had been like that.

Leaning back, Marinette willed herself to relax. There was no point in worrying before time. She would handle each problem as they occurred.


	6. Alya

It was a secret Alya would take to her grave, but she had never had more fun at school than she was having now. It was exciting, endlessly amusing, and challenged even her prodigious skills in investigation and information gathering.

She entered the school on Monday morning, striding across the courtyard to sit on a bench with Marinette, barely able to suppress a grin.

‘You look pleased with yourself,’ observed Marinette, with a raised brow.

Alya dug around in her bag to extract a sheaf of papers. ‘Check this out.’

Marinette accepted the proffered pages, scanning them with wide eyes.

‘Good, right?’ Alya prompted, as she wiggled in her seat.

Marinette nodded, then pressed her lips together as her cheeks ballooned with a stifled laugh. ‘He repeated second grade?’

‘Humiliating, right?’ she squealed. ‘I’ve got something on all of them. We are so ready.’

Marinette grinned back, her eyes sharp. ‘Excellent work. After this week, we’ll be ready to put all of this into action. Make sure the girls are prepared.’

Alya’s answering smile was savage. ‘Yes, Ma’am.’

The first bell of the day rang. Alya reclaimed her papers and shoved them back in her bag, before falling into step beside Marinette as they climbed the stairs. She cast surreptitious glances at the boys following a short distance behind them; some chuckled and shoved each other, while others continued to keep a look out for nefarious behaviour from the girls. Nino seemed particularly jittery, with his eyes wide and unblinking, and jumping at the slightest movement from the girls.

‘What have you done to Lahiffe?’ Alya hissed from the corner of her mouth. ‘He’s sweating bullets, and if he shakes any more, he’ll fall apart.’

Chuckling, Marinette explained, ‘Juleka. I’ve instructed her to stand in dimly lit corners and stare at him with a creepy smile. Honestly, she’s a master at unsettling her victims. She doesn’t even blink.’

Alya _ooh_ ed appreciatively. ‘Good call. Hey, he sits in front of me. Do you mind if I mess with him a little, too?’

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. ‘It’s fine with me, but why would you want to?’

She shrugged. ‘Something about him just begs me to torment him. It’s like he knows he’s a lamb in a wolf’s den. I guess I just like to watch him squirm. Juleka would agree with me, I bet.’

‘You do you, boo,’ laughed Marinette.

They took their seats, watching with keen interest as the boys came in. Despite their bravado in front of each other, once they were in the presence of the girls, they quailed like frightened rabbits. Nino especially looked ready to turn and flee, but Adrien clamped a hand on his shoulder, and steered him into his seat. Hunching defensively, Nino pulled out his books, frequently peering over his shoulder in case someone tried something.

Alya exchanged a devilish look with Marinette. Suppressing a giggle, Alya uncapped her pen, before leaning over her desk. Slowly, she drew a line up the back of Nino’s neck, while he flinched at the cold nib on his skin. He remained stiff and upright until she pulled away, then he slapped a hand over the dark line. Turning around in his seat, he glared at her while she recapped her pen.

She met his stare with a wide grin, then gave him an exaggerated wink. She noted with interest how his cheeks turned ruddy with a blush.

_Victory_ , she silently cheered.

Alya then shared a discreet high five with Marinette just as Madame Bustier entered the room.

‘Good morning, students,’ she greeted them. ‘I have some wonderful news to share. Thanks to the influx of new enrolments, the school’s finances are stabilising rapidly. Now that we’re able to afford those renovations, we’ve had the plumber make his assessment, and purchased the new text books. Now, Principal Damocles is thinking of asking for an increase in budget from the Board of Education. With the added revenue from the Board, we’ll finally be able to make the other repairs, too. Isn’t this exciting?’

The boys’ cheer died into a pathetic murmur as the girls scowled.

‘Come now, children,’ Caline went on reprovingly. ‘This is good news. Our school will finally have reason to be proud.’

She regarded their blank faces, then sighed, before beginning the lesson.

Alya quickly grew bored. Tearing pages from her notebook, she ripped them into tiny pieces and chewed on them, before balling them up and spitting them through a hollowed-out pen. A collection of spit balls gathered on Nino’s hat and back, while he flinched at each strike. Some landed in Adrien’s hair, though he didn’t notice.

When she lost interest in that, Alya took what was left of her torn page, grabbed her scissors, and leaned forward to cut the paper directly beside Nino’s ear. He gasped, clapping a hand over the back of his neck to feel his hair. When he realised no chunks were missing, he turned to glare at her once more.

Alya smiled, giving him another deliberate wink. Nino frowned, then turned back to the front before Caline saw him.

Over the course of the morning lessons, Alya amused herself by tormenting Nino. She flicked his ears, tipped his hat, and hooked her foot around the strap of his schoolbag. He noticed what she was doing when he heard his bag sliding across the floor, snatching it back before she could rummage through it.

Alya remained unrepentant each time he spun around to scowl at her. Instead she would smile, wink, or wiggle her fingers in a coquettish wave. He would then blush, and turn back to the front looking scared and confused. Alya couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.

The lunch bell rang, and Nino was the first one out the door, zipping from his seat before the echo had faded. Adrien was left to stare after him in confusion, his own books still on the desk.

‘Oh no,’ uttered Marinette as she leaned over her desk in a show of sympathy. ‘Did you two have a fight?’

Adrien regarded her quizzically for a moment. ‘What? No, I don’t know what got into him.’

Dried spit balls fell from his hair as he shook his head and stood up. Alya had to press her lips together to keep from cackling.

‘But he left in such a rush,’ Marinette continued. ‘Maybe is ‘cause he thinks you don’t really like him.’

Adrien’s eyes widened. ‘What? I do like him. I think he’s a great guy. Why would he think otherwise?’

She shrugged helplessly. ‘I just heard him muttering to himself last week, saying that no one takes him seriously, and how he has no true friends. Maybe I misheard him. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.’

Still looking confused, Adrien left, his bag dangling from loose fingers.

‘Oh my god, Girl,’ Alya exclaimed, ‘that was masterful.’

Marinette smirked as she stood up. Then she turned, meeting the eyes of the other girls, as they nodded to her in turn. They marched from the room, Marinette leading the way, while Alya brought up the rear. She signalled Aurore and Mireille as they left the courtyard, ordering them to keep their phones close. They nodded in reply, before turning back to their respective conversations.

Alya’s classmates sat in their usual arrangement in Marinette’s bedroom, murmuring humble thanks as Sabine brought them lunch. Once she was out of earshot, Marinette addressed the room.

‘All right, I’m going to assume you all understand the significance of Madame Bustier’s announcement this morning.’

‘Pizza party billed to the school?’ asked Rose.

Alya blinked, bewildered by the question.

‘No,’ Marinette replied with forced patience. ‘Now that the school’s finances are stabilising, we can begin our offensive against the boys.’

Alix cheered.

‘Incrementally,’ she clarified.

Alix deflated with a huff.

‘We have to keep it low key for now,’ explained Alya. ‘Some of the boys may still have outstanding fees, so I’ll need to hack the records to find out. We also can’t reveal our hand too quickly. We want them to finish paying before they bolt, so we have to stay in divide and conquer mode for now.’

Alix groaned. ‘I’m sick of waiting. That Kim jock has been making short jokes since last week. He needs to pay for that.’

‘He will,’ promised Marinette. ‘I’m hereby sanctioning small, petty pranks. This morning, Alya teased Lahiffe by being generally annoying, and when he looked back at her, she winked at him. These minor annoyances and mixed messages are what I want right now, understand?’

‘What exactly did you do?’ Juleka asked.

Alya grinned wolfishly, detailing her actions with pride while the others murmured approvingly.

Lila hummed in understanding. ‘That sounds simple enough.’

But Marinette shook her head. ‘I need you to keep up what you're doing with Kurtzberg. Later, you’ll be able to ingratiate yourself with the other boys to act as our spy. Are you still up for that?’

Lila clasped her hands as she hummed a confirmation, looking eager.

Alya cleared her throat. ‘I spent the weekend digging up dirt on all the guys. Please read these files, and remember what they contain. We’ll use this information to demoralise them later.’

She handed the sheets out, the others perusing them enthusiastically.

Sabrina frowned at her sheet. ‘I could dig up some stuff too, if you want. I have access to my dad’s computer.’

Alya beamed at her. ‘That would be great. These stories are embarrassing, but they lack substance. At least now we can get the rumour mill going, and begin to set the boys against each other.’

‘Just let me have Kim’s proverbial dirty laundry,’ growled Alix. ‘I’m going to drag that meat head through the mud.’

Alya smiled indulgently as she handed over Kim’s information sheet. She was almost as anxious as Alix to set their plans into motion, and was thrilled they could finally make a start.

This truly was the most fun Alya had ever had.


	7. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is precious and I love him. My son ♥

After spending his lunchbreak mulling over what Marinette had told him, Adrien went back to school confused, but determined to put Nino’s worries to rest. It was true that he could be neurotic and paranoid, but Adrien still hoped to make friends with him. They had a lot in common and he seemed like a decent person, when he wasn’t suspicious of half of the entire student body.

When he arrived back at school, Adrien found Nino at his locker, examining it for traps before cautiously opening it.

‘Hey, Buddy,’ Adrien greeted him quietly, unsure of his welcome.

Nino gave a distracted wave. ‘Hey.’

Adrien opened his own locker, wondering where he should begin. ‘Did you have a nice lunch?’

‘It was ok.’

‘With your family?’

‘Yeah.’

Biting his lip, Adrien tried to think of an open question that would segue into more pertinent topics.

‘You came here alone from your old school, right? I bet you had lots of friends there.’

 _Nailed it_ , he thought triumphantly. 

Nino shrugged. ‘Not really.’

‘Oh. Do you mind if I ask why?’

Adrien hoped he hadn’t just offended his new friend. They’d only known each other for a week, so he didn’t want to come across as intrusive or thoughtless.

‘I was just too into my mixes to be bothered to get to know anyone,’ he explained, without rancour.

Releasing a quiet sigh of relief, Adrien went on. ‘Was that why you transferred, to make friends?’

‘Nah. My folks just wanted me to attend a school closer to home.’

Adrien deflated. ‘I see. That makes sense.’

Suddenly Marinette’s statement seemed more plausible.

Nino closed his locker. ‘You ready to head back?’

Forcing himself to smile, Adrien shut his own locker before following him out. Nothing Nino said suggested he disliked Adrien, but he had worked within the fashion industry long enough to know that people didn’t always mean what they said. It saddened him to think that Nino secretly loathed him, especially since Adrien felt they had gotten along so well.

As they took their seats, Adrien steeled his resolve. He didn’t want to wait to put his uncertainties to bed any longer.

‘Hey, Nino, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure, Man. What’s up?’

Adrien swallowed his surprise at Nino’s willingness to talk. He cleared his throat.

‘I don’t know how to ask without sounding like an accusatory butt-head, so I’m just going to ask and hope you don’t take offense, ok?’

‘Ok,’ echoed Nino, looking confused.

Adrien took a deep breath. ‘Do you not like me? I mean, I know this place has a bad rep, and you’re worried the girls are up to something, but have I done something to make you feel like you can’t trust me?’

Nino stared at him with wide eyes. ‘What? Dude, no. I thought we were bros.’

A surge of something warm and fuzzy flooded up Adrien’s body. He shook his head.

‘Yes, of course we’re bros. I’d love to be bros. I've never had a bro before.’

‘Why would you even think that then?’

He shrugged. ‘It was just something someone said.’

Nino’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who?’

‘What?’

‘Who said I didn’t want to be friends?’

‘Oh. It was Marinette.’

Immediately, Nino’s expression shifted into wary understanding. ‘I see.’

‘No, it’s not like that. She said she might have misheard you. Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding.’

‘Except that I’ve never said anything like that to anyone, not once. I think she set you up.’

Adrien blinked. ‘You think she lied to me? No, she wouldn’t have.’

‘Why not?’

‘She’s so nice, and pretty, and popular. What possible reason could she have to lie?’

‘Hell if I know. Listen, until we get to the bottom of this, don’t trust anything the girls say, got it?’

‘But how will I make friends with them if I’m always suspicious of them?’

‘You don’t.’

Adrien sat back, struck by the stern finality in Nino’s voice.

‘Just stick with the other guys,’ Nino cautioned him. ‘It’s safer that way.’

Adrien frowned, but nodded. He was confused about why Marinette would lie, unless it was someone else’s voice she had heard and mistook it for Nino.

Deciding that was the most logical explanation, he pulled his books out and faced the front, just as the girls entered. He nodded politely in greeting, and while most ignored him, Marinette acknowledged the gesture with a smile and a nod in return. It hurt, though, when Chloé strode by with her nose in the air, pretending she hadn’t noticed his timid wave.

Nino was staring at him in disapproval. Adrien shrugged, indicating there was nothing he could do about his deeply ingrained good manners. Shaking his head in response, Nino turned away, leaving Adrien to his thoughts.

Adrien turned his head just enough to see across the aisle. Chloé perched delicately on her bench, still ignoring him, just as she did whenever they passed each other in the halls or classroom. Adrien’s hurt was compounded by the fact that she had been his only friend for most of his life. To have her spurn him like this, before he could explain his sudden retreat from her life, was as frustrating as it was disappointing.

He waved again, hoping she would be forced to acknowledge him if he did it while she could see him. However, she merely regraded him as if he were filth stuck to the sole of her shoe. She turned away with a small harrumph, leaving Adrien to shrink in on himself.

A warm hand grasped his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Nino watching him with an understanding expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but Madame Bustier entered, cutting all conversations short.

 _Lose a friend, make a friend. It seems I’m destined to only have one friend at a time_.

The maudlin thought chased him throughout the afternoon lessons, and dogged his heels as he trudged to the car after the final bell rang. He waved his goodbyes, letting his hand drop when no one could see him anymore.

 _But at least I cleared things up with Nino. One friend is better than none_.

He forced himself to be satisfied with that. So far, he had looked forward to each new day, taking in the wonder that was public school with wide-eyed anticipation. It was a novelty to be surrounded by people his own age, without Nathalie or Gorilla looking over his shoulder.

Then, it occurred to him he could take Nino’s advice, and make friends with the other guys. Everything was too new at the moment, but once they had all settled in, he could befriend all of the other boys. He just had to be patient for a few more days.


	8. Chloé

Chloé had taken it upon herself to be as horrible as possible to all the boys. It was no great stretch, but she still had to make sure she was equally awful to all of them. She couldn’t be too soft, or her loyalties would be called into question. Nor could she be too hard on Adrien in case she was accused of overcompensating to cover up her true feelings. It was a tight balancing act, but one she navigated with relative ease.

She was still angry with Adrien for suddenly disappearing from her life almost two years previously, and not once in that time had he called or emailed to let her know he was alive and well. Now, it was too late. He had missed his chance the moment he enrolled in her school.

Still, his kicked-puppy looks whenever she ignored him tugged at her conscience. They had been friends for years, yet now they had nothing to show for it.

_It’s a damn tragedy. We could’ve been great_ , she lamented.

She met Sabrina that morning at the base of the front steps before heading inside. Sabrina nattered on about their homework as usual, and Chloé ignored her as usual.

‘Are you going to start messing with the boys like Marinette and Alya suggested?’

The question brought Chloé abruptly back to reality. She turned back to Sabrina, shushing her fervently.

‘Keep your voice down, or you’ll give the whole game away.’

‘Sorry. So, you are going to mess with the boys?’

She released an impatient harrumph. ‘Of course, I am. The sooner we begin, the sooner they’ll leave.’

‘What’re you going to do?’

Chloé smirked. ‘Follow my lead.’

She entered the locker room, glancing about to locate the boys as they stood around and idly chatted in scattered groups. A few of them hovered conveniently in the aisle directly behind her own locker.

She opened it, the hinges creaking in protest, then cleared her throat.

‘I was in the library yesterday,’ she began, her conspiratorial tone carrying just far enough to be heard, ‘when I overheard the most interesting titbit.’

‘Oh, do go on,’ Sabrina supplied.

‘I heard that a boy named Marc used to wet himself with such regularity, his school called his parents to advise them to take him to a specialist. Isn’t that just awful? Everyone must’ve been so embarrassed.’

‘Which Marc was it?’ asked Sabrina. ‘I think there are at least two here now.’

Chloé grinned, pleased by Sabrina’s adeptness in sewing discord among the eavesdropping group.

‘I’m not sure,’ she replied, ‘no last name was mentioned. But frankly, I’d hate to be either of them right now.’

‘I can already hear the taunts of piddle pants, and attempts to flush him down the toilet.’

‘I know, right? For all we know, he probably still wets his pants. Maybe he manages the condition with adult incontinence pads. But if the boys wanted to find him, all they’d have to do is keep an eye out to see who only uses the stalls, or doesn’t use the bathroom at all.’

Sabrina tapped her chin as she thought. ‘Or, they could peek over the stall doors to see if they’re wearing a nappy. I hear boys have no respect for privacy, so they wouldn’t think anything of invading someone’s space like that.’

‘I think it’s a part of that homo-erotic thing Freud was talking about. Come on, class is about to start.’

She closed her locker and strolled from the room as casually as possible. Behind them, fierce whispers rippled throughout the room. Chloé grinned, feeling the rush of pride from a job successfully accomplished. Sabrina looked similarly pleased.

Shooting Alya a subtle wink, Chloé slipped into her seat.

‘You’re looking especially smug,’ Alix hissed in her ear.

‘We just utilised the resources Alya gave us,’ Sabrina explained. She described what they’d said, and the reactions from the boys as they left.

‘Nice. Mylène tripped a boy in the hall, and I blamed it on another boy. We almost started a riot.’ Alix’s grin was devious as she tapped her fingertips together.

Mylène sighed mournfully. ‘We were this close to seeing a fist fight.’

Chloé was about to congratulate them, when their male classmates came in. Kim was as noisy as always, laughing and shoving his companions affably, while they attempted to see the good humour in the action.

Alix stiffened, her glare halting Kim as he passed by her desk.

‘What’s that look for, Short Stack? Got something to say to me?’

Chloé could hear Alix grind her teeth.

‘Nothing suitable for a school setting,’ she seethed.

Kim took a step back, his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender. ‘Why’re you mad? Are you on your period, or something?’

Everyone stilled as an ominous silence fell. All the girls turned to stare at Kim, while the other boys backed away slowly. Kim’s look of self-assured confidence transitioned into smug condescension.

‘Aw, did I offend your delicate female sensibilities? Aren’t guys allowed to mention periods, or is it because you’ve all synchronised and I’ve struck a nerve? Geez, you all need to chill out.’

He chuckled, grinning over his shoulder at his friends, but they had backed up until they were almost out the door, and refused to meet his eyes. Nathaniel, Nino, and Max had turned ashen, while Ivan was subtly shaking his head. Adrien sat stiffly at his desk, eyes straight ahead as sweat ran down his face.

_At least some of them have brains_ , Chloé thought.

The heavy silence continued for several uncomfortable minutes. Then, Marinette spoke.

‘Ladies, take no prisoners.’

As one, the girls turned predatory grins on the boys. There would be no more subtle games, no more holding back. With those four words, Marinette had declared war, and whether they knew it or not, the boys were about to become the latest casualties in the girls’ crusade, all because Kim couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

It would have come to this point eventually anyway, but because Kim had insulted all of them, Marinette was forced to respond. Chloé had no doubt that she would make an example of him for his impertinence.

Chloé knew politics, and the inherent power struggles it entailed. If Marinette had let the insult slide, her followers would question her leadership, or openly rebel. Luckily for her, Marinette was also brash and impulsive, responding to slander with a knee-jerk reaction that had gotten her into trouble more than once.

Now, the boys would have to rally if they wanted to stand a chance, which meant coming together and agreeing on a course of action. Except, none of them knew each other well enough to be able to really trust each other. Kim was sure to try and snag a leadership role, but many will blame their situation on him, saying the coming war was his fault. The boys were fractured and helpless. It wouldn’t take much to drive them out, and send them running like frightened dogs with their tails between their legs.

Chloé chortled at the image, her sinister laugh taken up by the rest of the girls, until the boys cringed, watching them with pasty complexions. Only Kim remained unfazed, taking his seat with a stubborn air.

The bell rang and Caline entered. She glanced around, her brow furrowed, as she detected the lingering tension.

Chloé sat up attentively, the very image of a model student, while the other girls did the same. The boys were also quiet, but the hunted look in their eyes spoke of a very different reason.

The next few weeks were going to be the most entertaining ones Chloé had ever had. She found she was looking forward to it.


	9. Marinette

Wednesday was a half day, but Marinette wanted to get as much done as possible to let the boys know she had waged war.

Fred Haprèle was the school custodian. So, before the sun had risen, with Mylène’s help, they had stolen his keys and snuck into the school, meeting in the courtyard where Marinette issued her orders, then divided the girls into small groups. They scurried off, each team with a bucket full of items necessary for their tasks.

Marinette was not exempt from the work. Accompanied by Alya, and armed with an electric screwdriver, they removed the labels from all the school doors, replacing them with randomly selected plaques from other doors. Alya snickered as the girls’ toilet was now labelled “Principal’s Office.”

‘They won’t know whether they’re coming or going,’ she chuckled.

‘We’ll see how well it works later. Some boys will have learnt their way around by now, but I’m hoping a few still rely on these signs from time to time.’

The screwdriver buzzed as she attached another incorrect plaque.

‘I’ve heard some boys still just follow the herd,’ Alya told her. ‘So, if one of them gets lost, a whole lot of them will.’

Marinette's smile twisted into a vicious smirk. ‘Excellent.’

Ninety minutes later, they had all converged on the front doors, reporting they had all successfully accomplished their missions. Marinette congratulated them, before sending them on their way, with instructions to act as casually as possible upon their return a few hours later.

She then snuck back home for another hour of sleep, passing out on her chaise to dream of distraught boys fleeing down the street.

* * *

Marinette awoke when Sabine rapped against her door, calling for her to rise. She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her face vigorously. Then, she remembered her plans.

Scrambling to get ready, Marinette tripped down the stairs, stumbled into the shower, and skidded through the rest of her routine, startling Tom and Sabine as they watched from their places around the kitchen bench.

Finally calling her farewells, Marinette sprinted out the door to meet with the others at the base of the front steps of the school.

She would never admit it, but she was looking forward to the fallout after her early-morning expedition, and judging by her friends faces, so were they.

‘So, how did things go last night?’ asked Chloé as she approached them, with Sabrina at her heels.

‘We’ll find out soon,’ Alya promised.

Marinette nodded. ‘We will, but first we need to get to class before the boys arrive and follow us.’

Chloé furrowed her brow. ‘Why?’

‘You’ll see,’ giggled Rose.

They hurried inside, greeting Madame Mendeleiev politely before taking their seats and pretending to study.

Alya sent out a text to every other girl in the school, urging them to get to class before the boys came. She received a scattered response, all offering affirmatives. She turned to grin at Marinette.

‘Now we wait.’

The boys began to trail in, just before the bell rang, sweaty and red-faced. The unfortunate few who didn’t beat the bell, consisting of Nathaniel, Kim, and Ivan, were sent to the Principal’s office. Marinette had to bite her tongue to keep from cackling, while Alya dug her fingernails into her own leg as she bit her lip. The boys returned half an hour later looking confused and miserable, as Madame Mendeleiev berated them for being late and taking so long to see Principal Damocles.

They tried to defend themselves, explaining that the door signs were incorrect, and that when they finally did locate the Principal’s office, there was already a queue of boys waiting to be punished.

Madame Mendeleiev, however, was not in the mood for excuses. ‘Enough. You will all write a three-page essay on thermodynamic reactions by tomorrow, or I’ll be speaking with your parents. Now sit.’

They slunk to their places, looking sorry for themselves.

Marinette exchanged a discreet high five with Alya.

After the bell for their next subject rang, there was a confused babble echoing from the second floor. Aurore slipped up beside Marinette to make her report.

‘It seems hundreds of plastic cups full of dirty water have been placed in the corridor out the front of the boys’ bathroom. They’re all busting, but none of them want to deal with the putrid water. Can you imagine?’

‘Unthinkable,’ Marinette murmured, placing a hand against her cheek in a show of concern.

Aurore cackled and left, re-joining her class as they turned a corner.

‘Where did they get the water from?’ asked Sabrina quietly from behind her.

Alya chuckled darkly. ‘The Seine.’

There was a collective shudder, then they all turned back to their own classroom. They greeted Caline as they sat, talking idly while they waited for the boys. Again, they arrived barely on time, but had travelled together, relying on each other to prevent themselves from getting lost.

‘They’re learning,’ Alya muttered.

Marinette smiled. ‘Wait for it.’

As if they had rehearsed it, the boys filed into their seats and sat down simultaneously. When they gathered their belongings, or rested their elbows on their desks, the tables collapsed, falling down with a tremendous crash which was echoed from various other rooms down the hall.

At the front, Adrien’s and Nino’s desk fell forward, sliding across the floor with a hideous screech before coming to rest at the foot of Caline’s desk. Everyone stared at the fallen furniture in silence.

Finally, Adrien crept toward his ruined desk to inspect it.

‘The bolts have all been removed,’ he declared, his voice soft with appalled disbelief.

Chloé gasped, her hand over her mouth, while Sabrina faked a dizzy spell.

‘Oh no,’ Rose cried, with passable distress.

Marinette wanted to signal they were laying it on a bit thick, but she couldn’t stop snickering. The boys’ faces were shifting from confused startlement to suspicious outrage, while Caline just looked resigned.

‘All right,’ she sighed, ‘it looks like we’re in the library today.’

Promptly, the girls packed their things and departed, leaving the boys scrambling to collect their books and pens, before catching up in the hallway.

There were three other classes also converging on the library as they approached, the librarian looking frazzled and heavily put-upon.

‘Again?’ she wailed. ‘What is going on today?’

Marinette almost felt bad for her, but then she recalled the time the librarian had confiscated her phone, and hadn’t returned it. Marinette had been forced to break into the woman’s office to retrieve it, which was no easy feat. So, shortly after Marinette had what she’d come for, a small fire had broken out, decimating the woman’s filing cabinet, and all traces of Marinette’s presence.

A long-standing battle of wills between Marinette and the librarian had followed, but there was nothing the librarian could do to prove anything was amiss. Now, whenever Marinette entered the library, it was with an air of artfully contrived innocence with a hint of smugness.

She and her friends gathered around a table with angelic smiles until the adults were no longer in sight, then they compared notes. They caught each other up on information that may have been missed, or shared the thrill of victory over inconveniencing the boys and their teachers alike.

Marinette smirked as she told them about what they could expect over the next couple of hours.


	10. Adrien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Immediately following the last chapter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for 1,000 hits everyone! ♥

‘This was the girls’ doing,’ Nino hissed.

Adrien patted his shoulder consolingly. He didn’t want to believe it, but there was no other explanation. Only the boys’ desks throughout the school had been tampered with, and it was only the boys who were the subjects of the most vicious rumours. One boy had already been reduced to tears after he was confronted, stating he had never had a bed wetting problem in his life. Unfortunately for him, no one believed it. Now, people were wondering if Marc was going to leave.

As they sat in the library, the boys sought the questionable safety of the librarian’s presence, arranging themselves where she could see them easily. The atmosphere was tense, as if an attack were imminent. Whenever they had to talk it was in whispers, yet they convinced themselves it was because they were in a library, not because they were afraid of raising the girls’ ire.

They talked among themselves, not even giving a pretence of studying, until the final bell rang, making them all flinch.

‘Thank god for half-days,’ Nathaniel said on a sigh.

There was a chorus of emphatic agreements as they flowed out of the library, but they kept wary eyes on the girls behind them.

Adrien wanted to get to his locker and leave, but Nino hooked him by the crook of his elbow, and led him in the opposite direction.

‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ he muttered.

Adrien cocked an eyebrow. ‘So, go.’

‘You can’t expect me to go alone, not in this environment.’

‘All right, what are friends for?’ Adrien sighed.

Nino nodded his thanks, then led the way to the upstairs bathroom. After entering two wrong classrooms, and seeing a resigned Monsieur Haprèle cart away a trolley loaded with empty plastic cups, they finally located the men’s room. Looking around carefully, Nino headed into a stall, before Adrien followed suit.

He eyed the damp floor with trepidation, then chose a different stall, figuring he may as well go while he was there. After he flushed, however, an improbable amount of froth bubbled up, to spill over the bowl and lap against his shoes. He stepped back with an exclamation of disgust as Nino echoed the sentiment.

‘The toilet overflowed,’ he yelled.

‘Mine too.’

They darted out of their stalls at the same time, washing their hands as quickly as good hygiene allowed. Then they ran away, hoping to avoid catching the blame for this latest incident.

* * *

Adrien arrived the following morning to see the other guys, once again, huddled at the base of the school entrance, whispering fiercely. Terse hand gestures and sharp looks passed between them, before the gathering suddenly dispersed, the members grumbling unhappily.

‘What was that about?’ Adrien asked as Nino drew abreast of him.

His shoulders slumped as he exhaled gustily. ‘We were debating about whether or not we should do something about the girls’ bullying.’

‘Like what? It’s not like we have any proof it was them.’

‘That’s what some of the guys were saying; there’s no proof, it wasn’t intentional, et cetera. Some of the guys are even blaming each other.’

Adrien almost tripped up the steps. ‘You’re kidding. But some of those points do seem valid, though.’

Nino gave him a flat look. ‘Dude, even you’re still on the fence?’

He shrugged. ‘I just don’t see how they could have pulled some of these pranks off, let alone why they’d bother at all.’

‘One, they’re sneaky and devious. I’d believe them capable of just about anything. Two, who cares what their motivation is? What they’re doing is harassment.’

Further arguments were cut short by a series of disgusted screeches from the ground floor boys’ room. A group of them swarmed out, swearing and checking the seats of their pants, while shaking water off their shoes.

Nino gave Adrien a meaningful look, before approaching the revolted crowd.

‘What happened?’

Nathaniel turned to them with a look of unmitigated revulsion. ‘Someone put clingwrap over the toilet bowls.’

Adrien blanched. ‘Oh dear.’

‘That’s so gross,’ said Nino, outraged.

‘With the upstairs toilets out of commission, these are the only ones we can use, too,’ Nathaniel informed them.

Feigning ignorance, Adrien asked, ‘what happened to the upstairs toilets?’

‘The cisterns were filled with bubble bath.’

‘Seriously?’ exclaimed Nino. ‘What kind of primary school bull crap is this?’

Nathaniel hushed him. ‘Not so loud, you’ll give the girls ideas.’

Nino gulped, his face turning green.

Adrien cocked his head. ‘You believe the girls are behind all of this, too?’

Nathaniel turned to him, flat and unimpressed. ‘Who else would it be? None of us guys have any reason to do all this to each other. But the girls? This is their territory, and they’re stepping up to defend it.’

‘That,’ began Nino. ‘That makes a lot of sense. How did I not see it before?’

‘They’ve been subtle. They were also responsible for all those rumours currently flying around, not to mention a lot of other smaller, inconsequential instances around conflict.’

‘Sneaky,’ Adrien opined, almost admiringly.

The bell rang, calling them to class. Adrien pulled out his copy of the school map, and followed it to their classroom, rather than rely on the door plaques.

‘Now, they’ve taken things up notch,’ Nathaniel continued while they walked.

‘What do you mean?’ Adrien murmured.

‘You remember earlier this week, when Kim single-handedly pissed off every girl in our class? Marinette then said, “ladies, take no prisoners.” I think that was her way of saying it’s all-out war now.’

‘A less-than-subtle code for pulling out all the stops, isn’t it?’ Nino put in.

‘It may be a bit on the nose, but I think that’s exactly what she meant,’ agreed Nathaniel.

‘You make it sound like Marinette’s the leader, or something,’ Adrien scoffed.

Nathaniel gave him a knowing look.

‘What? No way. Marinette just usually hangs quietly in the background. I’d say Alix or Chloé are more likely to be the leaders.’

Nino shook his head. ‘Nah, Nath has a point. You know what the say – watch out for the quiet ones.’

‘They always snap the loudest,’ Nathaniel finished.

They entered Caline’s classroom, looking around cautiously before sitting down. While Nino made sure their desk was securely bolted, Adrien heard Lila greet Nathaniel like an old friend. His response was too soft for Adrien to hear.

Nino shook the desk one more time before taking his seat. It held together, but they both turned red when the girls snickered at them. Suddenly, Nathaniel’s theory seemed plausible.

For the rest of the morning, Adrien kept his head down and his mouth shut, hoping the girls would ignore him.


	11. Nino

Nino’s head ached and his shoulders were stiff after keeping hypervigilant all morning, but he was too worried to let his guard down. Any lapse in attention could render him a victim in seconds.

Still, it came as an unpleasant surprise when something cold and wet struck him on the back of his head and rolled down his back. Cringing, he fished the sodden foam ball from behind his rear – the soft, fist-sized type used for games.

Turning to the rest of the room, he saw a number of similar balls flying around and striking his companions. Max yelped as one of them splattered against his glasses.

‘Is there a problem?’ Madame Bustier asked as she turned away from the chalk board.

‘No, Ma’am,’ Max replied quickly.

She glared at him for a moment, then resumed her lesson.

Nino scowled when he heard chuckling behind him. Pivoting at the waist, he glared up at Alya. Noticing him, she winked and smiled, as if she and her cohorts weren’t deliberately trying to cause trouble.

Nino’s scowl deepened. Without thinking, he drew his arm back and pelted the ball, watching in satisfaction as it struck Alya’s nose and sprayed droplets all over her face, glasses, and desk. She sat, blinking in astonishment, before her eyes narrowed. It was then when Nino noticed all his classmates were watching him, the girls with outrage and the boys with concern.

As one, the girls took aim. Nino set his feet and raised his hand to wag his fingers in a “come get me” gesture.

The girls released their projectiles, but he was ready. At the last second he ducked, the balls bouncing over his desk and against the wall, while he and Adrien sought refuge under the table.

Madame Bustier spun around. ‘What is going on here?’

Nino and Adrien crawled back into their seats but declined to answer, acting as if it were normal for them to suddenly dive under their desk.

To Nino’s amazement, the girls didn’t answer her either, instead shaking their heads in mute confusion.

_I see. They have a code of silence_ , he realised.

It was a spark of integrity he hadn’t anticipated, as he was sure they would have blamed the boys for the disruption.

Madame Bustier frowned. ‘Since I can’t punish all of you, let me warn you instead. Anyone caught misbehaving will be sent directly to the Principal’s office, where you could face anything from detention to expulsion. Have I made myself clear?’

There was a general murmur of assent.

‘Good. Marinette, could you fetch Monsieur Haprèle and ask him to clean this mess up, please?’

Marinette nodded and left, leaving behind an intense silence. Madame Bustier gave the class a final stern look, then went back to her lecture.

After a short while, Marinette returned with Monsieur Haprèle. He looked at the pile of soggy foam balls before heaving a sigh and picking them up, one by one, to drop them into a bucket.

Nino felt sorry for him, as he was the one who’d had to clean up all the messes the girls had made. Once he was done, he exited the room as unobtrusively as possible, the knees of his trousers and the cuffs of his sleeves damp.

The rest of the morning passed without any further incident. After they were released for lunch, Nino hauled Adrien away, practically dragging him to the upstairs restroom. However, when they got there, it was to see that every stall boasted an _Out of Order_ sign.

‘Epic. That’s just brilliant,’ he groused.

‘I think it would be safer if we just avoided the toilets from now on,’ Adrien said.

‘No, we can’t let them think they’ve won.’

‘Look around, Nino. These toilets are out of order, and the ones downstairs are filthy. They have won.’

Nino shook his head. ‘No. As long as even one of us remains standing, we still have a chance.’

‘What’re you saying?’

‘I'm saying we need to band together. Us guys are easy targets if we’re alone, or in small groups. They’ll pick us off, one by one. Just look at how they’ve turned us against each other already.’

Adrien bit his lip. ‘Ok, say you’re right. How do we get the others to work with us?’

‘I’m not sure, but there’s safety in numbers. We can watch each other’s backs, stand up for and support each other. We can present a united front against the girls.’

‘It’s a nice sentiment, but how can we convince them?’

Nino shrugged, his gaze dropping to the floor. ‘I don’t know. All we can do is make the offer, and hope they’ll join us.’

‘Well, we usually all meet up before class starts. How about you put your offer to them after lunch?’

Nino’s expression eased into a smile, the first he’d made since enrolling in this school. ‘Sounds good. We all have a common enemy, so they should be relieved to have a support system on offer. All right, let’s go eat.’


	12. Alya

‘I have news,’ announced Alya as she entered the classroom. None of the boys had arrived yet, so it remained the sole domain of the girls for the moment. ‘It seems the boys are finally starting to join forces.’

Alix snorted. ‘Took ‘em long enough.’

Marinette hummed. ‘Lila, see what you can wheedle out of Kurtzberg. Rose, Mylène, you join Mireille and see what you can do to undermine their beliefs about us. I’ll need all of you to act your sweetest, or in Lila’s case, your flirtiest. We need to keep these boys off-balance, understand?’

Rose, Mylène, and Lila nodded.

‘What about the rest of us?’ Chloé asked.

‘I think we need to do our part to keep them on their toes,’ Alya answered. ‘They’re coming together because they’ve realised we’re out to get them. To counter those beliefs, I think we ought to pull out our weirder ideas, and really offset them.’

Marinette raised an eyebrow. ‘Sounds like you have an idea.’

‘One or two,’ she replied with a sly wink.

‘All right, this is your baby. Dazzle us.’

Grinning manically, Alya began describing her ideas.

* * *

The girls spent the rest of the day utilising Juleka’s trick of standing around in dim corners and smiling at the boys. Unnerved, the boys shuffled and averted their eyes, trying to shake off the feeling of being watched.

They popped their chewing gum bubbles when the classrooms were at their quietest, slammed doors, and sang loud and off-key in the corridors. Then, Marinette found a quiet corner and sang, high and sweet, a haunting melody she’d learned from her mother. Unable to find the source of the eerie voice, the boys scurried away, suddenly eager for the other girls’ raucous caterwauling.

Eventually, the day came to a close. The boys didn’t appear to be any more unified than they had been the day before, so Alya considered her tactics a success. She heard one boy muttering that the girls had probably already used the biggest weapons in their arsenal, and as such, were no longer a threat.

This belief was reinforced by Rose, Mylène, and Mireille, who were engaged in a conversation with three boys Alya didn’t recognise. She nodded approvingly as Rose clung to the arm of one flustered boy, staring up at him with wide eyes and batting her lashes. Mireille stood with her hands behind her back, casting bashful glances up at the second boy as she scuffed her toe on the ground. He rubbed the back of his head, looking flushed as he fought a dopey smile. Mylène was flattering the last boy shamelessly, and adding self-deprecating stories of how badly horror movies scared her, and how brave he must be.

Looking around, Alya saw a potential problem. Lila had Nathaniel backed into a corner, her hand dragging up his chest while she smiled alluringly. Unfortunately, Nathaniel had his guard up and was shaking his head, refusing to look at her.

Alya sighed and rolled her eyes. Lila was coming on too strong, and was rousing his suspicions. That issue would have to be addressed at their next meeting.

Marinette caught up with her outside. ‘How’s everything going?’

Alya tipped a hand from side to side as she described what she’d just seen.

Marinette crooked a finger over her lips as she thought. ‘Lila’s too heavy-handed; she’s going to scare him off at this rate. I’ll have to have a word with her.’

‘Awesome. Thanks for letting me take command on this one, by the way.’

Marinette shrugged, looking uncomfortable. ‘You know I never really wanted to be leader.’

Alya snorted her amusement. ‘I know, you just didn’t want Chloé to be class rep. But look at how far you’ve come. You’re leading the whole school now, all because of your own merits. You’re a natural leader, and I’m proud of you.’

She blushed, reminding Alya of the once-shy schoolgirl she used to be.

‘Thanks, it means a lot to hear that, even if I don’t think I really deserve the title.’

‘Why not? Because you lead a school of teenage delinquents?’ she teased.

‘That may have something to do with it.’

Blowing a raspberry between her lips, Alya waved dismissively. ‘If nothing else, you’ve come a long way, and you should be proud of that. Let’s just hope your parents never find out.’

‘Or yours,’ she replied with a chuckle.

They hugged and parted ways, Alya promising to come up with more ideas to overset the boys.

Arriving home, she called a greeting to her family, before shutting herself in her room. Booting up her computer, she fetched a notebook and pen, then Googled schoolyard pranks she could put into action the following day. After she found a few, she texted Marinette, asking if she still had Monsieur Haprèle’s keys.

Mylène replied, stating she could steal them again without causing a panic. Alya thanked her, and arranged a time to meet with everyone. She then sat back, tapping her fingertips together like a cartoon villain.


	13. Chloé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol what is an update schedule?

Once again, Chloé had been unable to participate in the early morning set up. It rankled that circumstances prevented her from proving herself, but security at the hotel was too tight for even a determined girl like her to wriggle through. But on Monday morning, she was quick to catch up on the news from her co-conspirators. She grinned as Sabrina filled her in, whispering quickly in her ear as they headed toward their classroom.

When they arrived, Chloé had to bite back a bark of laughter. Everything was wrapped in aluminium foil – the benches, desks, the blackboard, even the chalk was meticulously encased in foil. It was as ludicrous as it was funny, and just as improbable.

‘How?’ she wheezed.

‘A group of us came in last night,’ Alix explained.

‘How many rooms?’

‘Fifteen or so.’

‘Jesus Christ. Where did you get enough foil?’

Sabrina coughed delicately behind her.

Chloé’s eyes widened. ‘You, but how?’

Sabrina shrugged. ‘Dad’s been conducting an investigation in the warehouse district. It was easy to go through his files and sneak into a building to lift some stuff. The biggest problem was bringing it all back here. We had to steal a car.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Chloé muttered again. ‘Was the whole school involved in this?’

‘There’s no need to feel left out, Bourgeois,’ Alix told her with false sympathy. ‘Now, you get to sit back and enjoy the hard work of others.’

‘Just like always,’ added Mylène.

Chloé’s face fell. ‘You know damn well I’d do my part for the cause if I could sneak out as easily as you plebeians.’

‘All right, enough bickering,’ Alya said as she and Marinette pushed their way into the classroom, prompting Chloé to take her seat. ‘Just sit pretty and enjoy the show. We deserve it.’

Chloé sat down and waited with bated breath, as anticipation crawled up her chest like a living thing. The other girls took their seats as well, though they all struggled to keep their faces blank when the boys entered.

They stood in a confused mass in the doorway, blocking the entrance, until Madame Bustier pointedly cleared her throat behind them. Then they approached their places cautiously, poking at the foil before ripping it away to search for booby traps.

Madame Bustier sighed, but didn’t say anything. She just tore the wrappings from the blackboard and chalk, but left her desk and chair as they were. Then she continued to take attendance as if nothing were amiss.

Chloé was impressed by her classmates’ audacity and commitment, but she was mostly amazed by Sabrina’s gumption.

_I always knew that girl had hidden depths_.

The boys continued their suspicious inspection outside of the classroom by checking around corners and travelling in groups. Some of those groups had even formed alliances. Juleka reported during lunch, while all of them were huddled around a cafeteria table, that she’d overheard two such groups exchange information and promise to support each other should tensions escalate.

Marinette and Alya nodded as if they had expected this development, but assured the others it posed no real threat. They were simply scared, and joining together provided the illusion of safety.

‘It won’t take much to freak them out now,’ Alya concluded.

‘But what’s to stop them from fighting back?’ asked Mylène.

‘Absolutely nothing, except each other. So far, their division had kept them from banding together to retaliate, but it was only a matter of time before that changed.’

‘So, what do we do about it?’ Rose queried.

‘We keep going,’ Marinette told her. ‘Their status changes nothing.’

‘All we’ve been doing so far is taking advantage of their fractured numbers,’ explained Alya, ‘to sow discord wherever we can.’

‘To keep them unbalanced,’ Juleka finished.

‘Which was a fun game while it lasted,’ Chloé added, ‘but still leaves us scrambling now.’

Alix rubbed her chin. ‘Have the boys shown any indication of retaliating?’

Lila sighed. ‘No, and I can’t get Kurtzberg to talk. I’ve tried everything I know, but he’s scared. I think I pushed too hard.’

Marinette patted her shoulder. ‘You still sit next to him, so there’ll be other opportunities to work him. Maybe Rose can help you out?’

Rose nodded enthusiastically.

‘He’s bad at science,’ Alya informed them. ‘Offer to tutor him when he’s struggling. Desperation will force him to accept.’

‘Shrewd,’ Juleka murmured appreciatively.

‘This is all well and good,’ Chloé cut in, ‘but I’m still just sitting here, watching uselessly from the sidelines.’

‘We’ll find something for you to do,’ Marinette assured her.

‘Do you have a pet dog?’ Juleka asked her.

Everyone turned to her, perplexed.

‘No,’ Chloé replied, uncertain where she was taking her line of questioning.

‘Do we know someone who does?’

‘How big a dog were you thinking?’ Alix enquired.

‘Medium to large.’

Rose gasped. ‘My neighbour has asked me to dog-sit later this week. He’s a lovely golden retriever.’

Juleka smirked. ‘Perfect.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will contain major humiliation. I'll post a warning at the beginning of the chapter, and a short summary in the end notes for those who don't want to go into the gruesome details. You've been warned.


	14. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This is a major humiliation chapter  
> See the end notes to get a brief summary of the plot for further chapters

‘You’re all being paranoid babies,’ Kim told a group of boys the following morning.

‘What’s going on?’ Adrien asked as he came up beside Nino.

‘Some of the guys are saying the girls are bullying them,’ he replied.

‘They are,’ declared a blond in a red jumper. ‘One of them stuck a “kick me” sign on my back yesterday. My butt still hurts.’

‘That could’ve been anyone,’ Kim scoffed. ‘Serves you right for falling for such a dumb prank.’

There was a rumble of dissent through the crowd, though Kim ignored them.

‘Seriously, we’re men. We shouldn’t be afraid of a bunch of little girls. Show some backbone.’

‘What, exactly, do you mean by “backbone?”’ Nathaniel asked, with a calculating look in his eyes.

‘I mean, don’t just bow down and give in to them. Stand up for yourselves.’

Max coughed into his fist. ‘Kim, it sounds like you’re suggesting we bully them back.’

‘Yeah, so what?’

Max’s face fell. ‘I’m aware the girls are far from innocent, but two wrongs don’t make a right.’

There was a disappointed murmur of agreement throughout the group.

‘But I’m sick of this,’ protested the blond boy. ‘My classmates are running scared, and you’re saying we shouldn’t protect ourselves?’

‘I never said you shouldn’t take precautions,’ Max clarified.

‘Then what are you saying?’ rumbled Ivan.

There, Max floundered. ‘Well, you can still defend yourselves without stooping to their level. I think we just need to be mature about this, be the bigger person, as it were.’

‘That’s rich, coming from you. You’re like, five foot nothing,’ Kim chuckled.

Max straightened his glasses while giving him a reproachful look. ‘Do you want my help or not?’

‘Ok, I’m sorry. Still, the fact of the matter remains. We’re men, and we’re not going to let a bunch of little girls run roughshod over us. We have our pride to consider.’

‘That won’t count for much when they have us strung up by our toenails,’ muttered Nathaniel.

Adrien shook his head. ‘Look, guys, I think you’re reading way too much into things. You make it sound like the girls have declared war, and we’re mustering our troops to meet them on the battlefield.’

Jean Duparc dug a finger in his ear, squinting as he tried to make it pop. ‘Who says they haven’t?’

‘Guys, come on. No one’s declared war. This is probably just some hazing ritual. I’m thinking something like that isn’t out of character for these girls.’

‘It’s not,’ Nino confirmed, ‘if we were more girls. But we’re guys, and like Nath said, we’re invading their turf. Couple that with what Kim said, and how Marinette responded, then I’d say we better start rallying.’

‘Hang on, what did Kim say?’ asked the blond in the red jumper.

Nathaniel scowled and relayed the event which led to Marinette's declaration, while the others turned hard eyes on Kim.

‘What?’ he demanded, sounding defensive. ‘It’s not my fault they’re so sensitive.’

Nino groaned, bringing his hand to his face with an audible smack.

The bell rang, calling them to class. The foil had been cleared away overnight, and the girls had done nothing overt since. Still, Nino’s eyes darted from side to side as if he expected something to leap out at him, but they made it to their seats without mishap.

The morning lessons passed in relative peace, with only hostile glances exchanged between Alix and Kim to indicate their lingering grudges.

Finally, the lunch bell sounded. Adrien packed up and got to his feet eagerly. He was starving, and had been given permission to eat in the cafeteria that day.

‘Come on, hurry up,’ he begged Nino.

Nino frowned as he plucked a wad of paper from his hair. ‘Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on.’

They fell into step with the other guys in their class, and followed them to the lunch room. To no one’s surprise, there was a queue as the girls from his class took their time choosing their meals.

Adrien looked around as he waited. To his right was the service counter, where himself and other students waited to pick up their food. To his left was a water cooler, with plastic cups hanging from a rack on its side. Adrien blinked as he stared at it, suddenly feeling thirsty.

‘You guys want a drink?’ he asked his classmates, nodding at the water cooler.

His offer was met with a round of appreciative acceptance, so after asking Nino to hold his place in line, Adrien swiped an empty tray and headed toward the cooler. Once he filled six cups, he returned to the queue, distributing the cups to his grateful friends. Then, it was their turn to be served lunch.

They took their laden trays to a spare table and settled in around it, to begin eating and chatting amicably. Adrien was underwhelmed by the quality of the food, but he supposed this was a part of the public-school experience. Besides, the company of his new friends more than made up for the lacklustre meal.

Kim regaled them with stories of his achievements on the sports field. Nathaniel rambled on about significant art movements in history, and Ivan told them about his favourite heavy metal band. Even though they were vastly different people, they had still come together and formed the beginnings of a lifelong brotherhood. It was all Adrien had ever wanted.

_Anime doesn’t do this feeling justice_ , he mused dreamily.

Then, his stomach clenched. Around him, the others grimaced and moaned in sudden discomfort. The next table over, someone’s belly rumbled unhappily.

‘What the heck?’ uttered Nathaniel, his complexion waxy.

‘Was it the beans?’ Nino asked as he rubbed his abdomen.

Kim shook his head, wincing. ‘Beans always make me fart, but it never hurts.’

Something unpleasant shifted low in Adrien’s gut. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’

He rose gingerly to make his way to the exit, but then all of the other boys stormed after him. They stampeded to the nearest restroom, only to discover it was chained shut and bolted with a heavy padlock. A sign reading _Out of Order_ dangled below it.

There was a collective moan of despair, before the crowd dispersed to find other bathrooms downstairs. Unfortunately, all of the boys’ toilets were locked tight, each one boasting an _Out of Order_ sign.

Adrien’s belly twisted painfully as he looked at the sign in horror. Beside him, Nino was hopping from foot to foot with an apprehensive look on his face. This was the last toilet they could find, and had been their only hope. They backtracked as they tried to think of an alternative, while around him boys doubled over all throughout the courtyard, looking desperate and helpless.

There was a wicked snicker behind him. Adrien and Nino spun around to see Chloé emerge from the girls’ restroom.

‘Problem, boys?’ she asked with false concern.

However, she had given Adrien an idea. Sharing a final dismayed look with Nino, they shoved a squealing Chloé aside to sprint into the girls’ bathroom, slamming the stall doors shut just in time.

Twenty minutes later, Adrien emerged feeling hollowed out and nauseous. Nino too looked sweaty and ashen, his eyes dull as he gasped for breath. They washed their hands, then trudged back to the courtyard.

‘What the hell was that?’ Even Nino’s voice was weak.

Adrien shook his head, equally perplexed; he’d never had such an adverse reaction to food before.

Then, an overwhelming stench made his nose block. Looking out over the courtyard, Adrien saw that not everyone had been as lucky as him and Nino. Trying not to gag, Adrien averted his eyes to try to spare his comrades from further humiliation.

‘Oh, did you boys have a little accident?’ asked a female voice.

Chloé leaned against the wall behind them, inspecting her fingernails and trying to look casual.

‘I wonder if this had anything to do with it?’ She held up an empty glass bottle the size of her palm, with a pharmacy label identifying it as a strong laxative.

Adrien’s jaw dropped. ‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing much. Just a little slip of the hand, that’s all.’

‘Chloé.’ Adrien’s tone held a warning edge.

‘I may have accidentally dropped it in the water cooler,’ she tittered.

He didn’t have the energy to be furious. ‘But why?’

‘I’m sorry, Adrikins, but you know the old saying. All’s fair in love, and get the hell out of my school.’

She shot him a hostile glare, flipped her ponytail, and strode away.

‘I told you,’ Nino groused. ‘They’re evil, and they want us out of their territory. They’ll do whatever it takes, Man. They’re going to kill us at this rate.’

Adrien blinked, unwilling to believe it, yet here they were. Boys lay curled up on the ground in the foetal position crying, while others called their parents and begged them to come pick them up. It was a scene of large-scale devastation, proving the girls meant business, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys meet in the morning and discuss the girls' bullying, then consider their options about countermeasures and retaliation, despite Kim's ongoing and misguided bravado. However, they were unable to come to an agreement, thus remaining divided on the issue. No plans were made for group or individual defence.   
> At lunch, they're waiting in line at the cafeteria. Adrien kindly offers to bring his friends drinks from the water cooler while they wait, before sitting down to eat shortly after. They're all having a fine time until they suddenly experience significant abdominal discomfort. Every boy there rushed from the cafeteria to the toilets, only to find them all locked shut and out of order.  
> Adrien and Nino stepped away from the crowd and met Chloé, who laughed at their discomfort. They shoved her aside and ran into the girls toilet just in time, unintentionally leaving their comrades behind.  
> They leave the girl's toilet some time later to find a horrific scene - their fellow men sprawled across the courtyard, crying and laying in their own faeces.   
> Behind Adrien, Chloé laughed and held up a bottle of pharmacy strength laxative, and explained how it "slipped" into the water cooler. When Adrien asked her why, she said, "All’s fair in love, and get the hell out of my school."  
> As she walked away, Nino said he told him so, forcing Adrien to finally admit the girls were serious about trying to remove the boys for good.


	15. Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There'll still be references to the "Bad Chapter" so be warned

‘I think Chloé deserves a round of applause,’ Marinette announced once they had all settled in her room.

School had been dismissed after the boys had all lost control of their bowels, so they had retired to Marinette's place for celebratory macarons.

‘That was glorious,’ crowed Alix. ‘How did you do it?’

Everyone turned expectantly to Chloé as she sat, grinning smugly in the desk chair.

‘Well, I love my Daddy, but he’s an old man with old man problems. All I had to do was take what I needed from his medicine cabinet.’

‘But how did you get it in the water cooler?’ asked Mylène. ‘Not even my father has access to the kitchen and its supplies.’

‘It’s quite simple really. I had Sabrina monitor the delivery schedule, and note when the water cooler bottle was changed over. As it turned out, that was this morning, so before the new bottle was installed, I emptied Daddy’s medication into it. The instructions say to only add a drop to a standard glass of water, but I figured the bottle was pretty big. See, I told you I would prove myself.’

‘I’d be surprised if any boys come back after that,’ chuckled Alya.

‘In the event that they do, we need to be prepared,’ Marinette replied. ‘This was a great victory, but we haven’t won the war until they’re all gone for good. Alya, what are their stats?’

Alya tapped at her phone, her tongue sticking out as she concentrated. ‘It seems they’re all fully paid off, so we can hit ‘em hard and fast whenever we please.’

Marinette nodded in satisfaction. ‘Good. Keep in mind we don’t all have to be as devastating as Chloé. Juleka, Rose, how’s your plan coming?’

Rose perked up. ‘I get to dog-sit old Boofy tomorrow. Shall I bring him over then?’

‘Yes, but not to the house. I’ll meet you in the park instead. Juleka?’

‘The plants are distilling, and should be ready by morning.’

Marinette grinned, pleased with their efficiency. ‘Excellent. I’m sure the rest of you are capable of coming up with your own pranks, so go ahead and give it everything you’ve got.’

‘But don’t do anything they can trace back to you, ok?’ interjected Alya. ‘We want them gone, not be sent to prison ourselves.’

Alix huffed dramatically, then smirked. ‘We’ll make them sorry they were ever born.’

‘They probably already are,’ snickered Lila.

‘That smell,’ uttered Juleka, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

‘Some of them were crying for their mothers,’ Mylène added, sounding sombre.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her.

‘It was pretty pathetic,’ she tacked on quickly.

Marinette smiled approvingly, but thought she may have to keep an eye on Mylène. She couldn’t afford to let her girls go soft. If Mylène showed any sympathy toward the enemy, she would have to be disciplined. Marinette hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but Mylène was a sweet person. She didn’t have what it took to wage an all-out war.

_Maybe I’ll put her on spying and intelligence gathering. That ought to keep her out of the action, where she could balk. Then, I won’t have to punish her_.

For the most part, Mylène was invisible. Coupled with her relationship to the school custodian, this made her excellent spy material. Marinette gave herself a mental pat on the back for a good strategic choice.

The girls went home shortly after that, still in high spirits. Chloé was especially pleased with herself, now that she had found a way to strike a demoralising blow against the boys and thus prove her loyalties to her sisters and school.

Her laxative in the water had been a spectacular win, and would be a tough act to follow. It was unlikely that even Chloé knew how successful it would be, but it had still paid off. The boys were humiliated, and chances were that many of them would not return.

It had been a decisive victory, so it meant that, for now, the other girls should stick to smaller pranks to push the remaining boys over the edge. The ones stupid enough to come back would be weakened, emotionally and physically, thus making them easier targets. The girls could pull out their big plans for the really stubborn ones, as there were bound to be a few.

_Males are such prideful creatures_ , she mused. _But also, so fragile. One solid hit to their ego, and they’re down_.

However, she couldn’t delude herself into thinking they would just give up. Sometimes, when a male took a hit to his pride, they’d come back swinging harder than ever.

Marinette sat in front of her computer looking up other prank ideas should the boys retaliate with equal ferocity. If they did, she would need something in her armament to match it.

‘Always be prepared,’ she mumbled as she opened a page.


	16. Nino

Nino considered himself one of the lucky ones. A few of the boys had charged other girls’ bathrooms or the staff toilets, but many had not thought quickly enough. Of those, the smarter ones had dropped their pants behind the bushes out front, to the horrified expressions of passers-by.

Either way, Principal Damocles had been forced to close the school early, send the boys home with their parents, and call in a professional cleaning crew. The company, typically hired to clean up even the worst crime scenes, had balked at the sight before bracing themselves and getting on with the job.

Nino felt terrible for the boys who had been left to lay in their own filth in the school courtyard. He and Adrien had been the only boys to use that particular girls’ restroom, despite Chloé’s shrill protestations. If he’d had the presence of mind, he would have dragged his fellow men in with him. Unfortunately, he’d been too caught up in his own needs to notice their plight.

‘I’m sorry, my bros,’ he muttered as he looked around the desolate courtyard the following morning.

‘You’d never know what happened, just looking at it now,’ Adrien said as he came up beside Nino.

The cleaners had done a marvellous job. Not even the overpowering smell remained, replaced by the acrid odour of bleach.

‘I hope they’re ok,’ Nino murmured.

‘It was just a laxative. Humiliating, yes, but there shouldn’t be any physical damage.’

‘It’s not just physical, though. Helplessly soiling yourself in front of witnesses has got to be traumatic. I should’ve done something to help them.’

Adrien heaved a sigh. ‘I know what you mean, but we can’t beat ourselves up over it. It’s not helpful, nor can we change what happened. All we can do is show them we’re here for them when they come back.’

‘If they come back.’

They lapsed into silence as they trudged to class. Nino kept reminding himself it was a half-day, thus enabling him to go home at lunch.

To his surprise, most of their male classmates made an appearance that day. Ivan came in shortly after them, startling them both with his sudden appearance.

‘Dude, you survived,’ Nino laughed in disbelief.

‘Yeah. Had to use the teacher’s bathroom, though. Monsieur D'Argencourt wasn’t too happy about that.’

A few minutes later, Nathaniel arrived, explaining he had used the upstairs girls’ toilets, as did Max, and a few others from various classes. Only Kim remained absent.

Max turned solemn. ‘He made it outside, but was unable to avoid dirtying his pants. He sent me a text this morning, saying he was still feeling ill.’

There was a low hum of understanding throughout the room before they all fell quiet, each of them caught up in their own thoughts.

After a short while, the girls trickled in, all looking smug. Nino scowled as they passed his desk, not even trying to conceal his loathing. Adrien elbowed him lightly in the arm, but Nino shrugged him off. What Chloé had done was inexcusable. That the other girls approved of that made them guilty by association. They deserved his scorn, yet none of them seemed at all fazed.

Five minutes before the bell rang, Madame Bustier stormed in, an expression of terrible anger distorting her usual affable features.

‘Emergency assembly in the courtyard. Go.’

She pointed dictatorially out the door, giving the students an evil look as they marched by.

They trooped quietly down the stairs, the girls exchanging arch looks and barely suppressed grins. Nino wanted to shove Alya down the last few steps where she walked in front of him.

Once in the courtyard, they all filed into place while Principal Damocles stood at the podium looking severe.

‘I’m sure you all know why you’re here,’ he began.

‘Yeah, because you’re a pompous windbag who likes to hear himself talk,’ retorted a female voice.

Principal Damocles blustered for a moment. ‘Who said that?’

Three boys pointed to a girl in their class.

‘Right, see me in my office afterwards, Mademoiselle Beauréal.’

Voices hissed about how those boys were going to regret snitching on Aurore. Nino pitied the unwise fools, as the girls were sure to make examples of them for breaking the code of silence.

‘Moving on,’ Principal Damocles boomed. ‘In regard to the unfortunate incident yesterday, I’d like anyone with information to come forward and explain how that happened. What that person, or persons, did was reprehensible and they need to learn that there will be consequences. We have a zero-tolerance rule against mass poisonings and terrorism at this school, and because those actions violated that rule, you will all undergo mandatory anti-bullying seminars instead of your usual classes for the rest of the day. You will learn the impact these hurtful actions have on others, and how it can be detrimental to their long-term mental health.’

There was a collective groan from the boys and girls alike.

‘Unless,’ Principal Damocles continued, ‘one of you can identify those responsible.’

In front of him, Chloé turned around slowly until she met Nino’s eyes. She glared balefully at him, commanding him to be quiet.

Nino met her stare, returning it without flinching. After a long moment, she turned back to the front, apparently satisfied. Nino had noticed early on that the girls had a no-snitching rule, and he wagered that the punishment for breaking that rule would be swift and brutal.

When no one outed Chloé as the culprit, the assembly was dismissed, and Principal Damocles strode back to his office, Aurore trailing sullenly behind him.

On silent agreement, Nino waited with the other boys as the girls preceded them back up to their classroom. There, they spent the rest of the morning learning about the evils of bullying.

* * *

After classes let out, Nino called for an emergency meeting of his own. His new friends, and a few boys from the other classes, met him in the channel by the Seine, out of view of those still on the street.

‘All right, I think it’s pretty clear that the girls are targeting us in an effort to drive us away,’ he began.

There was a general murmur of assent.

‘The question is, what are we going to do about it?’

‘Do? I vote we cede them the win and leave,’ Nathaniel replied.

‘I agree,’ whispered a dark-haired boy beside him.

‘We can’t just give up,’ argued Max. ‘What they inflicted upon us yesterday was nothing short of a travesty. Their heinous actions call for retribution.’

Nino raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected Max to agree so fervently.

‘I’m all for fighting back,’ Ivan said, ‘but what can we do? We don’t have their resources, or knowledge of the area. We’re at a disadvantage.’

Nino crooked his finger over his lips as he thought. ‘They began with small, arguably harmless pranks, right? I say we retaliate in kind.’

‘We should network,’ added Max. ‘Share what information we have, and stay in touch outside of school. You can bet that’s what the girls have been doing.’

‘But they’re an organised, cohesive unit,’ Nathaniel countered. ‘We can’t compete with that.’

‘We don’t have to,’ Nino explained. ‘We can take chunks out of them in our own ways, and in our own time. I’m not saying we need to draw battle lines, but we should prepare for something messier.’

‘Guerrilla tactics,’ Max simplified.

The others _ooh_ ed as comprehension dawned.

‘Play to your strengths,’ Nino advised. ‘We don’t have access to the school after hours, so we have to be smart. Right now, they’ll be over-confident. I’m sure they’re expecting payback, though, so don’t be rash.’

Adrien rubbed his arm. ‘I’m not sure about this. Wouldn’t it be better to try and make peace with them?’

Everyone levelled him a flat look until he blushed.

Nino placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘You don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to, but I’ll ask you not to get in our way, either. Like the girls, we’re going to need a code of silence. Understand, everyone?’

Adrien hung his head. ‘Not really, but if this is what you want, I’ll keep my mouth shut.’

‘That’s all I ask. If anyone wants to back out, now’s your chance.’

No one spoke or put their hand up.

‘All right, let’s talk possibilities. Any ideas?’


	17. Alya

Alya stood in the hall as lookout, while Juleka crept into the teachers’ lounge to deposit a few drops of her homemade tincture into Madame Mendeleiev’s coffee cup.

The distant sound of voices indicated Marinette was successfully detaining the teachers, asking about homework and upcoming assessment items. Alya checked the time on her phone. It had taken Juleka longer than a minute already. Just as she began chewing her lip, Juleka reappeared, gave a thumbs up, then they headed down the hallway towards Marinette.

Passing the room she distracted the teachers in, Alya gave her a discreet nod. Marinette smiled brightly, thanked the teachers, and left.

‘What took so long?’ she hissed.

‘Sorry, couldn’t find the right mug,’ Juleka explained.

Marinette began to look like she was going to launch into a panicked rant. Alya intervened before she could spiral out of control.

‘Relax, Girl. I think the timing is perfect; just long enough for the tincture to take effect, without giving Madame Mendeleiev enough time to call in a substitute. Just chill out, ok?’

Marinette shook her hands out as she took a deep breath. ‘Ok, I’m chilled.’

‘We should move,’ Juleka reminded them.

They all shot a quick glance behind them, then scurried away before they were seen. After the “Apoocalypse” on Tuesday, all of the teachers were on the lookout for suspicious behaviour. If Madame Mendeleiev fell ill, and they were seen nearby at the time, the possible consequences could be dire.

Rose met them inside the girls’ toilets, looking eager as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

‘How did it go?’

Juleka grinned. ‘Step one was a success.’

‘Awesome,’ she replied enthusiastically.

‘How’s step two going?’ Alya asked.

Behind Rose sat a placid Golden Retriever, one front leg stuffed through the sleeve of an ugly purple blouse. Rose blushed as she ducked her head.

‘I could use some help,’ she admitted.

Together, they wrangled the dog into the blouse, a lab coat, a cheap wig, and dark framed glasses with the lenses removed. Once they were done, they stood back to admire their work.

Alya snickered. ‘The resemblance is uncanny.’

‘The best part is that Boofer understands hand commands,’ Rose told them.

She demonstrated by holding up one hand, Boofer watching closely, as she opened and closed her fingers like a bird beak. Boofer obediently barked twice.

‘That’s amazing,’ Alya said, approvingly.

Marinette scratched him vigorously under the chin with both hands. ‘Good boy. Good Boofer.’

Alix and Mylène stuck their heads in the door.

‘Madame Mendeleiev just bolted to her car,’ Alix informed them.

Taking up the narrative, Mylène finished with, ‘and the boys are still out on the front steps.’

Rose hummed a questioning note as she tilted her head. ‘What are they doing out there?’

Alix grinned savagely. ‘They’re too scared to push past Chloé, Sabrina, and Lila.’

‘They’re not going to be scared for long,’ Marinette interrupted them. ‘Let’s get moving.’

It took all of them to coax and shove the dog out of the bathroom, and into Madame Mendeleiev’s lab. Once he was in position at the desk, Marinette straightened his disguise before taking her seat.

Alya sent a text to Chloé, Sabrina, and Lila, informing them that they were clear to come in. Then, she turned to Marinette.

‘I’m surprised you finished the disguise on time. It looks great.’

Marinette looked Boofer over with a critical eye. ‘It was a rush job, so there are a lot of imperfections. But, since it’s just for a joke, I'm not going to worry too much.’

‘When did you finish sewing?’

‘This morning,’ she confessed, with an embarrassed flush.

Alya laughed while the remaining girls walked in, followed soon after by the boys. They paused in the doorway to stare at the dog in the teacher’s chair, then at the girls, clearly suspicious. When nothing untoward happened, they cautiously took their seats and pulled out their books, clearly anticipating Madame Mendeleiev’s arrival.

When the room fell silent, Boofer barked, making all the boys flinch violently.

‘Present,’ Chloé called.

Boofer barked again. When nothing happened, he barked once more.

‘Present,’ sang Alya.

Down the list they went, until all of the girls had confirmed their attendance.

‘The boys are going to get detention for ignoring a teacher,’ Alix whispered loudly to Mylène.

Boofer barked once more.

‘Sorry, Madame Mendeleiev,’ Alix replied contritely.

The morning classes continued in that fashion, the girls responding to Boofer as if he were the teacher, while the boys watched on, thoroughly perplexed.

When the bell rang, the girls thanked Boofer politely, still keeping up their charade, leaving the boys in bewildered shock behind them.

* * *

Rose had to leave the next class early, citing a possible menstrual scare, to retrieve Boofer after his stint as Madame Mendeleiev, and take him home during the lunch break.

The boys were still wary and confused, but Alya found their slack expressions almost cute. Nino though, looked like he wanted to growl at her whenever they saw each other. Unfazed, Alya blew him kisses before she continued on her way.

The girls remained on their best behaviour for the rest of the day, just to lay low until the worst of the teachers’ scrutiny had abated after Tuesday’s unfortunate development. Other classes were not as concerned.

A chorus of masculine wails echoed down the halls halfway through the last class of the day. Alya exchanged a surprised look with Marinette, before they both shrugged it off. Mireille or Aurore would fill them in at some point, and until then, what they did was none of Alya’s concern. She surmised it may even be retribution against the boys who had outed Aurore during assembly the day before. Aurore was not the type to hold a grudge when she could easily take revenge in a timely manner.

Alya grinned. She looked forward to hearing about it.


	18. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for 2,000 hits everyone!

It was finally Friday. Adrien never thought he’d be so glad to see the end of the week, now that he actually got to attend public school. It was cruel irony that Gabriel would enrol him in a school so hostile he would be glad to put it behind him at the end of the day. But then, Adrien thought that was what Gabriel had planned all along. As farfetched as it seemed that Gabriel could predict the girls’ defensiveness, if it led to Adrien returning to his gilded cage, then so much the better.

Adrien murmured a farewell to Gorilla, and stepped out of the car as he braced himself for the last day of the week. Small groups stood around the school steps, talking quietly as they cast furtive glances over their shoulders.

Adrien sighed and went inside, wondering if he could ask Gabriel to transfer him somewhere else. Then, he berated himself for the selfish and cowardly thought. He’d made friends at this school, and he wouldn’t abandon them, no matter what he thought of their retaliation ideas.

Just as he entered the front doors, something splattered painfully against the side of his head. He gasped and staggered back as ice cold water dripped down his left side. Gleeful cackles erupted nearby. Turning, he saw a group of girls he only knew by sight pick up their bucket of water balloons and run away, still laughing manically.

‘They got you too, huh?’ Nathaniel asked as he, and another boy Adrien recognised joined him.

Adrien shook the water off his arm. ‘Yep, they got me.’

The other boy dug through his bag, before pulling out a towel. He offered it to Adrien with a timid smile.

Accepting it gratefully, he led them both to the locker room, now dominated by partially soaked boys. Adrien dried off, then returned the towel with a grin.

‘Thanks. I hate being stuck in wet clothes.’

The boy murmured a reply too quiet for him to hear.

‘I’m sorry, could you repeat that?’

Instead of replying, he busied himself stuffing the towel back in his bag.

Nathaniel cleared his throat. ‘This is Marc. Please excuse him, he’s really shy.’

‘Oh, it’s no problem. It’s nice to meet you, Marc. I’m Adrien.’ He held out his hand to shake.

Marc’s eyes darted from his hand to his face, before slowly returning the gesture, and muttering an acknowledgement.

Adrien was surprised. _Has he always been so withdrawn, or did this school do this to him?_

What was even more perplexing was that Marc had returned at all after the events on Tuesday. Adrien assumed an experience like that would have broken a man like Marc.

‘Excuse me for asking,’ he said, giving in to curiosity, ‘I mean no offence. But how could you stand to come back here after what happened? Even Kim hasn’t come back yet.’

Nathaniel nudged Marc with his elbow when he didn’t reply. Marc started, then turned to regard Adrien with wide, clear eyes.

‘I didn’t drink the water. I always bring my own water bottle with me. It’s a habit.’

Adrien was taken aback by the simplicity of his answer, and the fact that of all of them, Marc was the only one to escape Chloé’s cruel stunt.

‘That’s actually very good thinking. I might do the same from now on.’

Marc’s features eased into a smile. Adrien grinned in response, until a soggy, angry presence materialised beside him.

‘Nino?’ he yelped.

Marc eyed him warily as he offered the towel once more. Snatching it, Nino rubbed his face and chest vigorously, disregarding good manners as well as his glasses. They sat askew on his nose when he lowered the towel, holding it out in Marc’s general direction.

‘Thanks, man.’

Nathaniel tilted his head. ‘Are you ok?’

‘Physically, yes. But being slammed in the face with a water bomb first thing in the morning is not my idea of a good time.’

‘I hear you. They’ve gotten all of us at one point or another,’ Nathaniel commiserated. ‘Marc here has been acting as saviour and human utility belt. He has a first aid kit, two spare shirts, a pair of pants, and who knows what else.’

Marc rubbed his neck as he looked away, a small but pleased smile lighting his face.

Nino sighed. ‘Maybe we should all adopt the boy scout motto.’

Adrien squinted as he remembered. ‘Always be prepared?’

‘That’s the one.’

They turned to their lockers to pull out their belongings before the bell rang. To their relief, Madame Mendeleiev was back in her customary place, though she looked pale and sickly. She conducted her lesson with far less fire than usual, then dismissed them five minutes early.

The boys exchanged meaningful glances at the uncharacteristic leniency as they headed to their lockers to swap books for gym clothes.

* * *

After meeting Monsieur D’Argencourt outside, they walked to the stadium, making sure to remain under the teacher’s stern gaze, while keeping a safe distance from the girls walking behind them.

‘Poor Madame Mendeleiev. She looked awful,’ Adrien opined.

Nathaniel harrumphed. ‘I bet the girls did something to her yesterday.’

Max nodded. ‘I agree. She was at the school in the morning, I spoke to her myself.’

‘Then she was so sick today, she let us go early. What did they do?’ Nino asked.

Max pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘Well, considering what we’ve observed, and our knowledge of the girls’ previous actions, I’d postulate that they poisoned her.’

Adrien tripped over his own foot. ‘What? Come on, they wouldn’t go that far.’

‘What would you call that stunt on Tuesday, then?’ Ivan asked pointedly.

He had no answer for that, so Adrien fell into an appalled silence. His gut squirmed when he realised he was suddenly too afraid to look back at the cluster of girls behind them.

They reached the stadium and changed out of their streetwear. Then, they went to face the girls on the pitch.

Adrien gulped when he saw them, but his fear had taken on a different quality. The girls stood in a loose group before them, their arms crossed or with their hands on their hips, exuding confidence. Adrien endeavoured to remain undaunted, but it was difficult when all of them were clad in scandalously short shorts and tight t-shirts. Chloé, Alya, and Lila had even tied their tops into a knot just below their busts, exposing their bellies.

Beside him, Nino took a deep breath, his lips moving in a silent prayer.

‘Gather around, children,’ Monsieur D’Argencourt called, waving impatiently at the boys to come forward.

They shuffled over, deeply discomforted, torn between wanting to keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour and needing to look away and not be confronted by so much skin.

Finally, the two groups stood facing each other, the boys determinedly focussing on the girls’ eyes. Never before had Adrien been so aware of the discrepancy in their numbers. It was intimidating.

Monsieur D’Argencourt hummed thoughtfully. ‘Two of you girls are going to have to play on the boys’ team to even the numbers.’

‘Sir?’ Nathaniel asked.

Monsieur D’Argencourt cleared his throat. ‘The girls suggested soccer, and to play boys versus girls. So, which of you girls would like to be an honorary boy?’

Mylène stumbled forward, her arms windmilling as she tried to keep her balance. ‘I can go, I guess.’

Monsieur D’Argencourt waved her forward, indicating she stand with the guys. Then Juleka strode across to join her, thus evening the numbers.

‘Very good,’ Monsieur D’Argencourt proclaimed. Walking to the edge of the field, he kicked a waiting ball toward them, and blew on his whistle.

Before it registered that the game had begun, someone slammed into Adrien’s side, knocking him to the ground. He wheezed as he struggled to breathe, clawing weakly at the grass before laboriously pulling himself to his feet. Weakly, he shuffled after the crowd.

‘Ivan, to the goal. Don’t let them score,’ Nino yelled, pointing at the end of the field.

Ivan nodded and lumbered ahead to stand in front of the goal with his arms spread wide.

Adrien looked toward the other goal to see Rose standing there, looking like a fierce, pink cupcake. Shaking his head, he turned back to the game.

The girls had already scored, and were cheering boisterously. Then Nino took control of the ball, and scooted clumsily back up the field.

Alya tackled him from behind in a move that ought to have been illegal. When the boys called foul, it was only to find that Monsieur D’Argencourt had fallen asleep in his chair at the side of the pitch.

‘What did you do to him?’ gasped Nathaniel.

Sabrina gaped back at him. ‘We didn’t do anything.’

‘Yet,’ Alya added with a sly grin.

Nino howled furiously, before kicking the ball so hard it sailed over the girls’ heads.

‘Easy there, Tiger,’ Alya taunted him, as she turned to chase after it.

Adrien likened her to a jungle cat by the way she moved, and tormented her prey. It was an uncomfortable thought, and one he was glad to shove aside in favour of the game.

They continued, surging back and forth as the teams gained and lost ground in turns. Predictably, Mylène and Juleka got in the way and interfered when one of the boys was about to score. However, Ivan proved to be an effective goal keeper, much to the girls’ frustration. Adrien gloated inwardly when another of their attempts to score was thwarted.

Then, the ball rolled into his possession. His teammates screamed at him, urging him to run, so he dribbled the ball back toward Rose, gaining confidence the closer her got.

In an instant, Marinette was in front of him. She tackled him bodily, leaving him flat on his back and winded for the second time that day. A warm weight shifted on top of him, bringing him back to reality. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to find that his view was dominated by large, blue eyes. Then he grew uncomfortably aware of the soft body laying atop him.

‘Um,’ he squeaked.

Marinette’s gaze turned wicked. Instead of getting up, she leaned in until her lips brushed his ear. He felt himself blush furiously as her breath tickled his skin.

‘I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you, Hot Stuff. You couldn’t handle me.’

As abruptly as she’d knocked him down, she was gone, leaving him breathless. Only Nino’s yelling pulled him out of his daze. Adrien staggered to his feet and re-joined the game, though he kept a wary look out for Marinette’s underhanded tactics.

In the end, they lost three points to two, in the girls’ favour. The boys were dejected as they made their way back to the showers, but Adrien thought they’d put up a valiant fight.

There was a collective sigh as the boys stood in their shower stalls, the warm water soothing their abused bodies.

Adrien was scrubbing shampoo through his hair when the water unexpectedly turned icy, before shutting off completely. They shrieked in unison, then stood staring at the showerheads.

‘How the hell did they tamper with the stadium?’ Nino demanded from the next stall.

Adrien sighed as he reached for his towel, hoping someone had brought enough water in their drink bottle for him to rinse his hair.


	19. Chloé

‘Did you see their eyes bug out?’ Alix asked gleefully. ‘They were all like, duh.’

The others cackled at her exaggerated slack jaw and protruding tongue, while other people in the park gave them quizzical looks.

‘We did look pretty hot,’ Alya added, flapping a hand to fan her face.

‘I wonder if we could use that somehow,’ mused Lila.

The group fell silent as they considered the possibilities. Around them, the breeze blew through the trees, the dappled sunlight shifting with the motion. Small children played, and couples indulged in picnics on the grass.

Chloé abhorred the park. It was too noisy, exposed, and infested with insects. Grass clung to her legs and stained her pants, and a clod of dirt stuck to the heel of her shoe. Scowling, she slipped it off to slap it against the ground beside her. The dirt fell off, but left behind an unsightly smear.

‘We need battle armour,’ announced Sabrina, as she smacked her fist into her open palm.

Chloé rolled her eyes. ‘What?’

When Sabrina noticed the others regarding her in equal confusion, she turned pink and wrung her hands. ‘Well, like you were saying, the boys turned stupid when they saw us in P.E. today. So, I thought, what if we dressed like that regularly?’

‘Battle armour,’ Alya echoed, nodding as she understood where Sabrina was going.

Rose tilted her head. ‘I don’t get it.’

Alix placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘If we dress like cheap trollops during a regular school day, the boys will be rendered speechless. While they’re dumbstruck, we can strike a devastating blow and drive them out, once and for all.’

Juleka frowned at her lap. ‘I don’t want to dress like a cheap trollop.’

Marinette gave her a confident smile. ‘Don’t worry, you can be classy and sexy at the same time.’

‘If we’re doing sexy, Lila ought to stuff her bra with more than just tissues,’ sniggered Alix.

‘Hey,’ Lila protested.

‘It’s an interesting plan with lots of potential,’ Alya said before an argument could arise.

Alix pouted. ‘Except I don’t own anything sexy.’

The others admitted to similar problems, except for Chloé. She could see where this was going.

‘Don’t fret,’ Marinette placated them. ‘I can alter the clothes in your existing wardrobes. All that should need doing is shortening a few hems.’

‘You’re only one person, Dupain-Cheng. How long is something like this going to take?’ Chloé asked.

Brows furrowed, Marinette calculated the time in her head. ‘It should take about two or three weeks, depending on how much I have to do.’

‘Well, I for one, don’t need your help. I have plenty of suitable outfits.’

Mylène tapped her fingertips together in a nervous gesture. ‘I don’t think I want to dress sexy. I was really uncomfortable in the stadium today.’

Marinette nodded. ‘That’s fine. Does anyone else have something to add?’

‘I have access to a seamstress,’ Lila told her. ‘She can make any adjustments to my clothes.’

When no one else spoke, Marinette nodded once more. ‘Perfect. The rest of you, bring me the clothes you want altered tomorrow. I’ll take your measurements and begin right away. I’ll let you all know when I’m almost done with the outfits, then we can work on a schedule for the big reveal. Are you all sure there’s nothing else we need to address before we break for the weekend?’

She looked around expectantly, but was only met with silent head shakes.

‘Excellent. Meeting adjourned. Have a good weekend, everyone.’

Chloé stood up, and with Sabrina’s help, brushed the grass from her pants. Then she strode briskly from the park, while calling the hotel for a staff member to pick her up. Sabrina prattled on about homework, and the battle against the boys until they reached the hotel, where they parted ways.

Chloé heaved a sigh, glad for the reprieve. She needed to indulge in the spa and forget about schoolyard politics. It was fun when things were happening in her favour, but the rest of the time, it was tiring. She groaned as she entered the elevator, wondering how long she could keep going.


	20. Nino

Early on Monday morning, Nino arrived at school with a plan. Over the last week, he’d noticed his fellow men were so intimidated by the girls, they saw no way of fighting back. So, he’d sworn to prove to them that the girls were not untouchable. Thus, he found himself at school just as Monsieur Haprèle opened the doors, well before the other students would arrive.

Darting into the locker room, and making sure no one else was in sight, Nino rummaged through his bag to pull out a chocolate bar and an enormous pair of cheap women’s underwear. Discarding their respective packets, he spread the undies out on the floor, and rubbed the chocolate up the inside of the garment. Snickering viciously, he balled the undies up, and shoved them through a slot in one of the girls’ lockers.

Quickly, he cleared up the evidence, then went to wait for his friends on the front steps.

Max arrived first, soon followed by Ivan, Nathaniel, and then Adrien. He greeted them casually, though he was eager to see their reactions when his prank was revealed.

To their collective delight, Kim arrived just as they were about to head inside.

‘Hey guys,’ he said with an awkward wave.

Max nudged him in the arm with his fist. ‘Welcome back.’

The sentiment was echoed by the rest of them, easing Kim’s discomfort. The boys who had been the worst hit by Chloé’s prank had all been reluctant to return, but those who did were treated as if they had merely been out sick with a cold. It was by unspoken consent that the rest of them never mention the incident, so as to let the real victims get on with their lives without feeling ashamed.

They clapped each other on the back and talked jovially as they headed into the locker room. Once inside, Nino fetched his books along with everyone else, while awaiting the moment of the reveal with apparent ignorance.

Across the aisle, there was a susurrus of confused mutterings, before a piercing screech tore through the air.

Chloé screamed at the soiled knickers dangling from her forefinger and thumb, before flinging them across the room.

Jean Duparc recoiled as they landed by his foot. ‘I don’t want your skiddy grandma undies.’

He kicked them back, but they were expertly deflected by Sabrina wielding a textbook.

The undies were tossed around like the world’s worst hot potato. Taunts of Chloé soiling herself and hiding the evidence in her locker were coupled with the apparent realisation that she also wore granny panties. Chloé shrank in on herself, bright red with humiliation, while Sabrina tried to minimise the damage. Unfortunately, she only seemed to make matters worse.

‘Chloé only wears the highest quality cotton briefs,’ she yelled, ‘and she was fully potty trained by the time she was six.’

‘Oh my god, will you be quiet,’ Chloé hissed when the jeering worsened.

The boys, and even a few girls, laughed her out of the room.

‘It seems that Chloé has made more enemies than we realised,’ Max observed.

‘She probably ticked off a whole bunch of girls before we ever showed up,’ Nino concurred.

Nathaniel crossed his arms and scowled. ‘Either way, serves her right.’

‘I wonder who planted the underwear,’ Adrien pondered. ‘I’ve known Chloé for years; this was definitely a setup.’

Ivan scratched his chin. ‘You know, if any of the girls had a beef with each other, now would be the perfect time for payback.’

‘They could blame anything on us,’ agreed Nathaniel.

Nino held his hands up. ‘Guys, you don’t have to worry. None of the teachers will hear about this. Code of silence, remember?’

‘That may be,’ Max replied, ‘but there’s nothing to stop them from taking revenge on their comrade’s behalf, whether they know who the culprit is or not.’

They all sobered at that.

‘This is going to turn into some endless tit for tat, vengeance thing,’ Adrien warned them.

Kim shook his head. ‘It’s already turned into something. Would you prefer we roll over and die?’

‘Well, no.’

‘No one’s making you complicit,’ Nathaniel told him. ‘If you don’t want to get involved, that’s your deal. But some of us have suffered a great deal at their hands, so we feel they need to be taught a lesson.’

‘But why does that responsibility fall to us?’

‘Because no one else will do it, and some of us feel we’ve earned the right. They’ve hurt too many of us.’

There was a general murmur of assent, which made Adrien’s shoulders droop.

‘I can’t convince you, can I?’

Kim folded his arms. ‘Hell no.’

Nino almost felt sorry for Adrien. He gripped his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

‘It’s admirable you want to find a peaceful solution, but too many of us feel it’s too late for that. I’m sorry it’s come to this, and that you’re on opposite sides from your old friend, but they’ve made their choice. This is just how it is.’

Adrien heaved a sigh. ‘I can see where you’re all coming from, really. I just wish everyone would get along.’

Nino thumped him on the back as they filed out to class. Adrien was a nice person who didn’t have the burning desire for revenge the rest of them bore. But no one faulted him for his tender feelings, which was a relief. Unfortunately, Nino may have unintentionally put himself in a leadership role, right next to Nathaniel, Kim, and Max.


	21. Alya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a prank involving many dead fish ahead. It's a wee bit gross, but no gory details.

Alya watched as Chloé paced the length of Marinette’s room like a caged animal, scowling fiercely as her arms flailed wildly.

‘I don’t know who put those hideous granny panties in my locker, but I’ll make them pay.’

Alix cocked an eyebrow. ‘You sure they weren’t yours?’

Chloé turned on her with a snarl. ‘Of course they weren’t mine. They were far too big to be mine, nor would I ever do something like, like that in my pants, then hide it in my locker.’

‘Do you think it was one of the boys then?’ Mylène asked.

‘I don’t know of anyone else who would do it.’

Alya bit her tongue. There were many girls who would have loved to prank Chloé, and plenty more who had found the whole event hilarious and well deserved. Alya too would have loved to pull off such a feat to put Chloé in her place, but they had bigger problems to focus on, rather than petty squabbles among themselves.

‘It was clearly the work of the boys,’ she agreed, to head off an argument. ‘The question is, how do we answer?’

‘Let’s put superglue on their seats,’ Rose suggested eagerly.

‘How about we steal their clothes while they’re in the shower?’ Alix added, with a vicious grin.

‘Spiders in their schoolbags,’ Juleka murmured.

Alya sighed a she rubbed the bridge of her nose. ‘I think they’d notice suspicious puddles on their seats, they probably take their clothes into the stalls with them like we do, and where would we find enough spiders?’

‘Do you have anything better?’ Lila asked archly.

‘As a matter of fact, I do.’

The girls exchanged excited smiles, before turning back to her with expectant looks on their faces. Alya turned to Marinette, who nodded for her to continue.

‘Ok, I’ll need Sabrina, Juleka, and Mylène in on this one. You’re all key to its success. Meet me at the docks at four o’clock sharp tomorrow morning, got it?’

* * *

Alya sat with her classmates on the stairs leading to the second level before classes began that Tuesday morning. They affected an air of nonchalance, but were waiting with bated breath for the boys to arrive. They spoke of inconsequential things while they waited, but the anticipation was bubbling just below the surface.

Finally, Alya looked around the courtyard. ‘Are all the girls accounted for?’

Alix and Rose did a quick headcount.

‘Everyone who’s coming today is here,’ Alix reported.

Alya then leaned around the handrail to check on the front door. Aurore remained on standby, awaiting the signal to unlock the entrance.

Mireille scampered down from the library to meet Alya. ‘All the boys are on the front steps, but they’re wary.’

‘Doesn’t matter. Signal Aurore.’

Alix loosed a shrill whistle, then the clunk of the lock mechanism sliding back echoed throughout the courtyard. Aurore scurried off to replace Monsieur Haprèle’s keys, while the rest of the girls attempted to look as normal as possible.

The bell rang just as the first few boys ventured inside. As though nothing were amiss, the girls shouldered their bags and headed toward their respective classrooms. Alya and her cohorts paused by the railing to watch the boys sprint into the locker room, panic already settling in.

Mylène coughed delicately into her fist. ‘We’d better get to class.’

Reluctantly, Alya followed the others into the classroom and took her seat. Madame Bustier had just opened her mouth, when an almighty exclamation of disgust rose up from multiple male throats downstairs.

Alya bit her tongue to keep from laughing, and she could see the others were also struggling to keep a straight face. Madame Bustier turned to the door in startled confusion, but merely frowned as she waited for the boys to enter.

They came in twenty minutes late, reeking of old fish. Madame Bustier gagged and slapped a hand over her nose and mouth, her eyes watering.

‘What is that horrendous stench?’ she demanded.

The boys glanced at each other, before turning back to her with helpless shrugs.

Alya’s victorious grin was savage. She knew the boys had caught on to their code of silence, and would now have to endure fishy smelling books and equipment for the rest of the morning.

There was one unfortunate drawback to filling the boys’ lockers with dead fish. She, and all the other girls, had to put up with the smell too. Sabrina and Rose opened the windows, but it was of little help. The odour had permeated the room and settled. When the lunch bell rang, the girls couldn’t get out fast enough.

‘Maybe think the ramifications through a little more next time,’ Marinette choked.

Alya nodded as she powerwalked across the courtyard. Even here, the stench was overwhelming. She increased her speed, keen to leave as quickly as possible.

She reached her locker and wrenched it open. As she did, a number of dead fish spilled out to land in a gruesome pile at her feet. She shrieked and leapt back, equal parts revolted and outraged. The other girls squealed in unison, before turning on her with baleful glares.

Alya held her hands up in a pleading gesture. ‘I’m sorry. I know it backfired, but who would have thought the boys had this kind of initiative?’

‘Backfired?’ Lila screeched. ‘This was your plan. How could you let this happen?’

‘My whole locker is ruined,’ Chloé added. ‘How do you plan to compensate me for this, Césaire?

Before Alya could respond, Marinette intervened. ‘Guys, we can’t afford to fight among ourselves right now. I’m sure Alya is sorry her plan was turned against us, so we’ll all make sure nothing like this happens in the future. For now, just clean up what you can, and take the rest home.’

‘I guess now we know why the boys were so late,’ muttered Mylène as she held up a dirtied sock between her forefinger and thumb.

Alix nodded. ‘Turning this back on us took more brains than I gave them credit for.’

Still grumbling darkly, they emptied their lockers. Alya remained quiet and then hurried home. She wiped down the covers of her books and electronics, put the clothes in the wash, and threw away the ruined papers, before leaving everything else to air on her balcony. Despite her best efforts, her belongings still held a fishy odour when she returned to school.


	22. Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Immediately following the last chapter...

After cleaning the items from her locker twice, the smell dissipated, but Marinette dreaded going back and replacing everything before she could give her locker a thorough scrub. She would have to return early, wash it out, then let the empty locker air out for the rest of the day while it dried.

It maddened her to leave her personal space open to vandals, but she saw few alternatives. Towelling it dry, then shutting it, could result in a musty odour, risked mould, and may not entirely eliminate the fishy smell, so air-drying it was her only option.

However, Marinette was not about to let the boys’ impertinence go unpunished. She would have to be subtle, and leave nothing they could use against her. Unfortunately, she was so irked she couldn’t think of anything. Casting her mind back, she tried to recall previous suggestions her compatriots had called out.

Marinette groaned aloud, then picked up her phone to send out a group text.

_Prepare your superglue. Make sure it’s the good kind_.

Rummaging through her drawers, she found a small tube of quick-drying superglue. Smiling in satisfaction, she tucked it in her pocket before running downstairs for a quick lunch.

She returned to school smelling strongly of lemon scented detergent, giving Alya a half-hearted wave before they fell into step together.

Marinette knew it was pointless to resent Alya for her carelessness, as it would weaken the cohesion she had built within her team, but they had been pulling stunts like that for years. Alya should have known better. If Marinette had been able to attend the previous evening’s jaunt, she may have caught on to the possible drawbacks, and found a way around them.

However, she had been exhausted and had slept through her alarm, so now they were all paying for the oversight.

Resigned, Marinette filched some supplies from the janitor’s cupboard, so she and Alya could scrub the inside of their lockers before class resumed. It was a smelly, messy job, and she splashed putrid water down her leg, but they completed the task before the bell rang. Gritting her teeth, Marinette left the door open against her better judgement, so it could air out and dry. She hoped it would be usable again the following day, but she didn’t hold much hope of that.

Sitting in her seat with a sigh, Marinette watched her classmates file in looking tired and irritable, as Alya sank low in her seat. However, they spared Marinette a wink or a subtle nod as they passed before taking their own seats to obediently await the afternoon lessons.

The boys trailed in wearily, looking as equally put-upon as the girls, but Marinette’s sympathies evaporated immediately. She eased the tube of glue from her pocket and just as Adrien lowered himself into his seat, she leaned around her desk and squeezed the glue all over his spot. Adrien sat in the middle of the puddle, but didn’t seem to notice the trap.

Marinette looked around to see the other girls straightening up after planting their own pranks. Alya shot her a wink and a thumbs up as Nino sat down, while Lila had her hands full pranking Nathaniel and Ivan.

By some miracle, the boys were too preoccupied to notice all the girls ducking around their desks, or that they had sat in puddles of glue. Marinette blinked, stunned by her good fortune.

Alya slid her a note just as Caline entered, her nose twitching as if she still detected a hint of fishiness.

_How did they not notice they all sat in a puddle_? Alya’s note read.

Marinette shrugged her confusion, but faced forward when Caline began the lecture.

The afternoon passed quietly as the students concentrated on a history test. Then, when the bell rang at the end of the day, the boys moved to stand, only to find they couldn’t.

Adrien fell forward, hitting his nose on his desk. Kim swore, at first in confusion, then in growing ire as realisation struck. Behind Marinette, there was the unmistakable sound of fabric tearing.

Caline watched for a long moment, then sighed and instructed them to call their parents, while the girls tittered as they walked out.

Marinette shot the room a look of smug superiority as she left. The boys scowled back, but she remained uncowed. This was retribution, and they deserved it.


	23. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following day...  
> Warning for a slightly gross prank; see end notes for a brief summary

Grumbling vociferously, Adrien went to meet his friends in the courtyard. Earlier that morning, they had sent him a text, asking him to arrive at school an hour earlier than usual as they had something of vital importance to discuss.

However, Adrien was reluctant to ask his father for a favour. Gabriel had not been pleased when he had been called to the school with instructions to bring sharp scissors and a spare pair of pants for his son. He’d arrived with an indignant huff to find Adrien glued to his seat, his nose swollen and bruised, and unable to wriggle free. Gabriel had expertly cut him loose, then delivered a blistering lecture which even had Kim wincing in sympathy.

Adrien had gone home in disgrace, clothed in a new pair of jeans, and with a cold compress held to his nose. Gabriel had been frostier than usual ever since.

Loath as he was to beg his father for favours, Adrien still arrived at school when his friends had asked. He then found them huddled around a bench in the far corner, giggling gleefully.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked, his curiosity winning out over his bad mood.

They all turned around at once, then sucked in their breaths through their teeth with a hiss.

Adrien stared flatly back. ‘Yes, my face is bruised. Thank you for noticing.’

Nino scratched the back of his head. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean any disrespect.’

The others murmured an apology, looking properly abashed. Adrien sighed and decided to move on.

He indicated the bench they had gathered around. ‘What have you got there?’

‘It’s a two-pronged attack,’ Max explained, ‘and it all begins with these special chocolates.’

Adrien’s shoulders sagged. ‘They’re not laxatives, are they?’

Nathaniel waved a flippant hand. ‘No, that’s been done already. This is a bit more creative.’

‘Before we go any further,’ Nino interjected, ‘do you want to know any more, Bro?’

Adrien recognised the out Nino was offering, but memories of a sore nose and the embarrassment of Gabriel cutting him out of his jeans decided him. He grinned meanly.

‘Tell me what you’ve got in mind.’

* * *

They waited at their customary spot at the base of the front steps, feigning interest in Max’s latest robotics project. Max was the only one showing a genuine interest in the subject, as he showed them the schematics of his Markov prototype. Adrien learned that morning that Max was always eager to demonstrate his skills, and that he was particularly proud of this one.

The girls arrived in pairs or small groups, moving like pack animals at the top of the food chain – always together, but too self-assured to see others as a threat. The boys shared secretive smiles before following their classmates inside at a wary distance.

They heard the exact moment the girls saw the pretty box on Caline’s desk. There was a collective _ooh_ of surprised delight, followed by eager whispers.

Loitering outside, the boys watched from the hallway as the girls descended on the chocolates. They ate greedily, as if they were entitled to the treat, humming and licking their lips appreciatively.

_Any normal person would have recognised it as a gift for the teacher and left it alone_ , Adrien thought scornfully. _Really, this is what they deserve_.

In the classroom, Lila grinned mischievously until Rose cocked her head.

‘You’ve got something between your teeth,’ she told the taller girl around her mouthful.

Lila picked at her teeth as Sabrina pulled a face. Lips puckered, she pulled something out of her mouth. The girls stilled, their jaws turning slack, as they stared at the beetle leg between Sabrina’s fingers. As one, they yanked out handkerchiefs and tissues, spitting into them repeatedly before stampeding to the nearest restroom.

‘Phase two,’ announced Kim.

They silently followed the girls into the toilets, pulling out rolls of duct tape as they went. Adrien winced at the sounds of retching coming from the cubicles, but accepted a roll of tape when Nino offered it. Following the other boys’ lead, Adrien taped a stall door shut as thoroughly as he could, trapping the girl inside. He was surprised to find he didn’t feel a shred of remorse at her plight.

Once they were finished, they crept back out and made it to their seats just as the bell rang. Ivan scooped up the chocolate box as he passed, concealing it in his bag before it was seen.

Caline entered soon after. Looking around, she asked, ‘where are the girls?’

‘I don’t believe they’re here yet,’ Max replied smoothly.

The others nodded and hummed in agreement.

Caline shrugged. ‘Well, we can’t wait for them. They’ll have to catch up in their own time. Turn to page sixty-seven, please.’

The girls appeared half an hour later, looking furious, if a little ill.

‘Where have you all been?’ Caline asked, her hands on her hips.

Alya stepped forward. ‘Juleka was having a crisis. We were comforting her.’

Caline raised an eyebrow. ‘All of you?’

They nodded, murmuring affirmatives.

‘Yet not a single one of you thought to inform me?’

Alya managed to look abashed. ‘We’re sorry. I guess we were too caught up in the moment.’

Caline shook her head and waved them impatiently into their seats, before continuing her lesson. The girls were left to scramble to find where the rest of the class was up to, once they sat down.

Adrien kept one ear on the lecture, and the other one behind him in case Marinette attempted a stunt like the one she pulled the previous day. Fortunately, she remained quiet, only moving to unpack her things and settle down.

Adrien marvelled at their audacity after Alya’s easy lies, even managing to look convincingly sheepish at their scolding. Yet he was just as frustrated with Caline’s inability to recognise the deception. Juleka provided an easy cover that was almost too convenient, and could be easily seen though if Caline thought to dig any deeper. Except with Juleka’s perpetually lugubrious appearance, whatever sob story the girls thought up would persuade any teacher. Still, under that calm façade, they would be planning their revenge, and it was sure to be swift and brutal.

Frowning at his textbook, Adrien thought hard about what he could do to protect himself and his friends. Whether he wanted to be a part of this or not was no longer his decision to make. The girls would strike out at the boys indiscriminately, regardless of how an individual felt. As far as they were concerned, all boys were the enemy, so all he could do was defend himself as best he could.

Unfortunately, the best defence was a good offence, which inherently required him to get his hands dirty. Mercifully, he had a bank account sitting idly by, a debit card, and a computer. He had the resources to help his fellow men and he intended to put them to good use, once he had an idea about how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still smarting after the girls' prank the previous day, Adrien arrives at school early at his friends' request. He finds them huddled around a seat, giggling over their revenge plan, and decides he would like to know more as memories of being cut out of his pants and Gabe's ensuing lecture come to mind.   
> Their plan was to leave a box of fancy chocolates on Caline's desk, knowing the girls would descend on it like ravenous ants. Which they did. They all began eating, and a moment later Sabrina pulled a beetle leg from her mouth. The boys had made their own special chocolates with bugs inside, and dressed them up as gourmet confections. At once, the girls bolted for the bathroom, where the boys enacted phase 2 of their plan - taping the stall doors shut so the girls couldn't get out, making them horribly late for class.  
> The girls made up an excuse for Caline as to why they were late. They couldn't tell the truth, and Ivan had already hidden the remaining chocolates in his bag.  
> Adrien was a little appalled by the girls' easy lies, and Caline's ignorance. He knows their revenge will come, so he's now considering how to protect himself and his friends.


	24. Chloé

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the last chapter...

In a fit of pique, Chloé shoved by everyone on her way out that afternoon. Male or female, they were all knocked unceremoniously aside as she headed toward her waiting car. Sabrina called after her, but Chloé ignored her plaintive wails and slammed the door shut.

‘Drive,’ she ordered.

Once she arrived at the hotel, she stormed up to her suite and kicked the door behind her hard enough to rattle it in its frame. Throwing herself onto the couch, Chloé smothered a scream with a cushion.

‘I can’t believe those people,’ she snarled when she came up to breathe.

There was a perfunctory knock on her door, then the butler stuck his head inside.

‘Mademoiselle is upset over something, I can tell.’

He entered the room properly, holding something behind his back. Approaching her, he knelt before the couch, revealing a large dish covered by a silver cloche.

‘Perhaps Mademoiselle’s favourite treats will cheer her up?’ Removing the cloche, Jean proffered a selection of fine chocolates.

Chloé squealed, her foot lashing out to kick the dish to the other side of the room, scattering the chocolates across the floor.

‘I don’t want chocolates. I hate them. Don’t ever bring them here again, or you’re fired.’

Jean stood up; his shock only betrayed by his wide eyes. ‘Very good, Mademoiselle. Is there something else I can bring, Monsieur Cuddly, perhaps?’

‘No, I don’t want that manky bear. Just leave me alone.’

‘As you wish, Mademoiselle.’

He left quietly, the door closing behind him with a soft click. Immediately, Chloé surged to her feet to pace, her arms flailing as she ranted at no one.

‘I’m surrounded by incompetents. First, the girls just dive into a box of unguarded chocolates without even checking them first.’ Chloé chose to ignore the fact that she had been among the first to swoop in and claim the largest confection for herself. ‘I almost died. Those bugs could have been toxic, or something. I could’ve been hospitalised, or worse, killed.

‘Then I have to spit like an animal into my handkerchief, ‘cause Sabrina selfishly used all her tissues. She’s supposed to support me and my needs above all else. That’s what friends are for.’

She paused to catch her breath, her chest heaving with the effort. Chloé didn’t really blame Sabrina for spitting out the mouthful of contaminated chocolate, it just felt good to yell about it.

‘Then,’ she continued, ‘they’re all shoving me out of the way so they can get to the toilets first. That’s so rude. I know they know who I am, so there’s no excuse. But then to find out we’ve been locked in there, and to suggest I climb over the stall walls like come common monkey. The nerve.’

Chloé had declined clambering up the walls, opting instead to wait until Sabrina freed her. When she finally did get out, it was to see the others examining the tape used to seal them inside.

Chloé clenched her jaw to stifle another scream.

The door swung open, and Audrey stepped in without waiting for an invitation. ‘What is that awful racket? Do keep the noise down, Claudette, uh, Chloé.’

Torn between wanting to rail against her mother’s indifference, and holding her tight and confessing everything, Chloé compromised and asked for advice instead.

‘Hey, Mum, how do you get revenge on people who’ve wronged you?’

Audrey blinked as she paused for a moment to consider the question. ‘Simple, you ruin everything that they are and what they stand for.’

‘But how?’

‘That depends on the person. Why, who has wronged you?’

‘Only my entire school.’

Audrey examined her nails. ‘Then I suggest you take the school down, burn it to the ground. Figuratively speaking, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Chloé echoed.

With that, Audrey smiled and waggled her fingers over her shoulder as she left. ‘Toodles, Darling.’

Chloé sighed. As usual, her mother was no help at all.


	25. Alya

Keeping her head down, Alya entered the school as unobtrusively as possible. Ever since the fish mishap, the other girls had been antagonistic, by giving her dirty looks or deliberately freezing her out. So, Alya had kept a low profile ever since in the hopes that they would forget about it sooner.

She arrived at school a little earlier than usual that Thursday morning, to stand around and act as a deterrent against the boys should they try to pull any pranks. There were only a few students milling about the courtyard so early, scattered around in small groups or in pairs, their eyes dull with fatigue. The girls curled their noses at her presence, but Alya ignored them and headed to the locker room.

Shrugging her bag off, she rounded a row of lockers to see two people talking at the far end of the next aisle. As covertly as possible, Alya took a step back before peering around the corner, careful to remain quiet and unseen. She blinked, unable to believe the scene playing out in front of her.

Mylène was talking with Ivan. Retrieving her phone, Alya filmed the interaction, her mouth dropping open when Mylène blushed and giggled. She smiled up at Ivan with a genuine softness and warmth in her eyes. Their voices were too low for Alya or her phone to pick up, but Mylène reaching out to hold Ivan’s hand revealed the depth of her regard for him.

‘You little traitor,’ Alya muttered darkly.

When it looked like Mylène and Ivan were about to part ways, Alya retreated to the doorway, then spun around to walk in as if she had only just arrived. Ivan rounded the corner then, and they passed each other in tense silence, watching warily from the corners of their eyes until the other had gone.

Alya strode casually to her locker, which sat only a few doors down from Mylène’s.

‘I just saw Bruel leave,’ she began, as she opened her locker. ‘He didn’t do anything, did he?’

Mylène flinched. ‘No, nothing. Just uncomfortable silence.’

‘That’s a relief. What’re you doing here so early anyway? You don’t normally arrive for another half hour, right?’

‘Oh, I was just going to steal all the food out of the boys’ lockers for a joke.’

Alya raised an eyebrow. ‘They keep food in there?’

‘They’re teenage boys; they’re always hungry, so there’s bound to be something.’

It was a good lie, and one she had probably practised. Alya’s suspicions aside, it was a good joke, especially if the boys were hoarding something tasty.

‘Ok, let’s do it. Many hands make light work.’

Pulling a handful of pins from her hair, Alya clumsily picked the boys’ locks while Mylène rifled through the contents, stashing her finds in hers and Alya’s bags and lockers.

Thirty minutes later, they had collected a respectable stash, and what they couldn’t fit in their own bags, they hid in Jean Duparc’s locker.

When voices drifted in from outside and drew nearer, she and Mylène ducked into the girls’ bathroom to await their chance to sneak away undetected.

* * *

At lunch, Alya grabbed Marinette’s elbow before she could leave.

‘There’s something you need to see,’ she murmured while they waited for the others to depart.

Marinette raised a quizzical eyebrow, but waited until they were alone before asking, ‘what is it?’

Alya pulled out her phone, and showed her the footage, repeating the conversation she’d had with Mylène afterward.

Marinette’s brow furrowed into fierce lines. ‘This is a very serious accusation, you know that, right?’

‘Which is why I came directly to you. I couldn’t confront Mylène about it. She’d know we’re on to her.’

Humming pensively, Marinette tapped her chin as she considered her options. ‘Send me the video. I’ll examine it at length later, and determine a course of action then.’

Alya nodded and obeyed the request, then looked up with a hopeful smile. ‘Want to get crepes in the park?’

To her relief, Marinette smiled. ‘Sure, sounds good.’

It was not how Alya had predicted the heat would be taken off of her, but she was not happy about this development. If Marinette found Mylène guilty of betrayal, they would lose a soldier and a valuable asset. Unfortunately, they could not afford to have someone with divided loyalties compromise their plans.


	26. Nino

‘Dude, where are all my snacks?’

Nino rummaged through his locker, looking for the food his mother had made for him. Further down the row, Kim asked a similar question, before turning to the room at large.

‘Which one of you pinched my protein bars?’

Max rolled his eyes. ‘No one wants your protein bars.’

‘Then how come they aren’t here, Monsieur Smarty-Pants?’

Nathaniel frowned into his own locker. ‘My snacks are gone, too.’

‘Which can only mean one thing,’ sighed Nino.

‘The girls,’ they chanted in unison.

Adrien closed his locker. ‘I can’t say I'm surprised, but we should consider ourselves lucky that they didn’t tamper with them instead.’

They all fell into a grim silence at that.

‘Yup, we definitely got lucky,’ Nathaniel agreed.

‘But my protein bars,’ whined Kim. ‘I’m starving.’

Nino shut his locker, then turned around to lean against it. ‘Since it’s obvious that not even lockers are sacred, I say we hit back in kind.’

‘I think I have something too,’ Max offered, with a crafty glint in his eyes.

They exchanged excited grins, then followed him to the nearest hardware store. Nino, Max, and Adrien were the only ones to go inside, as they didn’t want to arouse suspicion, but Max had the store’s good opinion as a regular customer, and Adrien had the financial means. Nino was there merely as an extra pair of hands. They made their purchases, the cashier raising an eyebrow but choosing not to comment. Then Nino and his friends hefted the bags and departed with a cheery wave.

Between them, they had five bags filled with rubber gloves and cans of expanding foam. Once they got back to the school, they scurried into the locker rooms, put on the rubber gloves, carefully attached the applicator nozzles to the cans, and then held the end of the applicators to the slots in the girls’ locker doors.

Nino claimed two cans, one in each hand, to fill up two lockers simultaneously. ‘Let ‘em have it, guys.’

They squeezed the expanding foam into the lockers, chuckling vindictively. Boys from other classes happily joined in, and soon a sickly, yellowish foam oozed from around the doors.

‘They’ll never get this cleaned up,’ sniggered Kim.

‘They should’ve learned after the fish debacle,’ Nathaniel added.

They emptied the cans well before lunch break was over, then they stored the cans back in the shopping bags for easy disposal in the nearest dumpster. The boys turned to their own lockers to collect their things in anticipation of a well-deserved meal. However, when Jean Duparc opened his locker, the missing foodstuffs tumbled out to pile around his feet. Everyone turned and stared, wide eyed in shock.

Jean stumbled back; his hands held up before him. ‘It wasn’t me, I swear. I didn’t do it.’

Nino grasped his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘We know, man, it’s all right. Isn’t it?’ He directed a glare at the other boys.

‘Of course,’ Nathaniel agreed, quickly.

‘Absolutely,’ Kim added, nodding vehemently.

Jean heaved a gusty sigh of relief, then Nino helped him return the stolen property. Kim got his protein bars back, but Nino saw no sign of the favoured treats his mother had prepared for him.

_I was really looking forward to it, too_.

They crept away to have a hasty lunch at a nearby fast food restaurant, and dumped the empty cans in a convenient dumpster on the way. They congratulated themselves on a job well done over greasy food and watery soda, thumping each other on the back, and laughing uproariously.

When they returned to school, the girls were already filing inside. Nino made certain to make eye-contact with Alya, if only so she could tell the others that the boys hadn’t been around when they found their lockers unusable. Still, it was satisfying to hear their confused babbling followed by outraged screeching as the boys headed to their next class.

‘They’re gonna get us back for this,’ Adrien murmured.

Max shot him a confident grin. ‘Yeah, but we’ll be ready.’

They settled into their chairs to await the beginning of class. Nino flipped to the back of his workbook to jot down ideas for future retaliation ideas. Adrien was right, the girls would hit them hard, so they needed to be prepared.


	27. Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Major bullying chapter. No physical violence, but it's not very nice either. You've been warned.  
> See End Notes for a brief summary.

Despite the girls’ restlessness, Marinette called for a halt to all major tactics for the rest of the week. She needed to examine Alya’s video, and decide what she would do about Mylène. They weren’t happy she’d called off all their operations, so Marinette gave them permission to utilise smaller annoyances.

Alix and Aurore tripped boys over in the hallways and courtyard, Lila spread vicious rumours which had them questioning their friendships, while Juleka and Alya rearranged the library in a system only they could fathom. Rose and Mireille fluttered their eyelashes, luring the boys in close enough for them to drop slugs and worms down the backs of their shirts. Sabrina raided her father’s office and stealthily handcuffed a few boys together, and Chloé delighted in sneaking up behind them and suddenly screaming as loud as she could.

Conspicuously, only Mylène refrained from joining in, further incriminating her in Marinette’s eyes. It was looking more and more like she would have to implement disciplinary measures, whether she wanted to or not.

To complicate matters, Marinette would have to make an example of Mylène, but not in any way that would arouse Fred Haprèle’s suspicions. They could not alert any authority figures to any actions which could be perceived as bullying, or leave Mylène in a position where Fred, as the school custodian, would find her. This meant they could not tie her upside-down, covered in chocolate custard and sawdust, to a courtyard support pillar like they’d done with Aurore.

To help her think, Marinette continued her work on their “battle armour.” While she focussed on taking up hems and lowering necklines, her mind was mulling over the problem in the background. If that should fail, Google could help her think up a suitable punishment.

* * *

Saturday afternoon, Sabine returned home with an armload of new school supplies. She and Tom hadn’t been happy about having to replace all her books, stationery, and devices, but they had bought her vague story about a mishap with expanding foam by the maintenance crew. Luckily for Marinette and her friends, it was that same crew who had to clean their lockers and repair the damage over the weekend, lending credence to the lie.

By Sunday evening, she had finished making the adjustments to her friends’ clothes, and had only to make her own outfit before they could implement the strategy. However, she was no closer to figuring out what to do about Mylène.

_Ideally, it would look like an accident_ , she mused, _but would still have to send a message of zero tolerance toward fraternising with the enemy_.

This brought her down to two options – the science lab, or the art room. An “accident” in the science lab would make more of a statement, but Madame Mendeleiev would penalise them all severely if they were discovered in there messing with the equipment.

This left her with the art room. The materials weren’t as offensive, but the consequences of an accident, or discovery, would be far less grievous.

Her decision made, Marinette sent out a text to her friends, inviting Aurore and Mireille to act as representatives for the other classes.

_You are required to attend a meeting at my place, lunchtime tomorrow_.

The formal phrasing indicated that their presence was mandatory, thus guaranteeing all relevant persons would be there.

Marinette sat back with a sigh, dreading the coming day.

* * *

They convened in Marinette’s room, her classmates taking their customary places, while Aurore and Mireille sat by the wall to observe the proceedings.

Marinette nodded at them all in greeting. ‘Thank you all for coming at such short notice. I know you’re all smarting after that attack on our lockers last week, so I appreciate your patience while we deal with other matters first. Rose, Juleka, Alya, Alix, and Sabrina, you’ll find your altered clothes sitting on the ladder for you, ready to go. Lila, have you spoken with your seamstress?’

‘Yep, she says she’ll be done in the next couple of days.’

Marinette then turned to Chloé. ‘You already said you had suitable clothing for operation battle armour, correct?’

‘I'm ready when you are.’

Nodding, she then faced Aurore and Mireille. ‘I assume you’ve already heard the basic outline of this plan?’

‘Yes, Ma’am,’ Mireille replied.

‘Lila filled us in,’ Aurore elaborated. ‘The other girls are ready and waiting for your signal.’

‘Very good. However, this is not why I’ve called you here today.’

Marinette woke up her computer, the footage of Mylène and Ivan lighting up the screen when Marinette pressed play. The room stilled, the ensuing silence charged and heavy as the video played through.

‘Would you care to explain yourself, Mylène?’ she asked quietly.

As one, the other girls turned their heads to stare at her with accusatory eyes.

Mylène flinched. ‘It’s not what you think.’

‘I think it looks like you’re getting cosy with Bruel,’ Alix snapped. ‘If it’s not that, then what is it?’

Mylène stumbled off the back of the chaise to cower by the wall, wringing her hands. ‘I was only trying to do what Rose and Mireille do. You know, lower their guard with the sweet and innocent act.’

Marinette narrowed her eyes. ‘You’ve never expressed an interest in using this tactic before. In fact, you’ve always avoided getting close to the boys. Why the sudden change?’

‘I was only trying it out, to see if I could.’

‘Congratulations, it’s very convincing.’ Marinette crossed her arms and frowned. ‘Seriously, no more games, Mylène. How long has this been going on?’

‘What?’ her voice was barely a whisper.

Scowling, Marinette asked, ‘how long have you been meeting up with Bruel?’

‘You may as well fess up, Girl,’ Alya interjected. ‘I know your dad’s an actor, but you’re not. There’s no way you could have faked that.’

Mylène’s mouth worked soundlessly as tears collected and tracked down her face. ‘Please, it was just a one-time thing. He approached me. I promise it won’t happen again. You can still trust me to do what’s needed. Please.’

Marinette drew in a steadying breath. ‘I’m sorry, Mylène, but you have been found guilty of associating with the enemy. As such, you are to be publicly punished, to serve as a reminder of what happens to traitors. Take her.’

Alya and Alix stepped in to grab Mylène’s arms, and march her from the room. The others filed out in a sombre procession behind them, following close behind back to the school. Under Marinette’s orders, they headed up to the art room where Alix and Alya shoved Mylène into a chair and tied her down with tape.

‘Do you have anything to say before we hand down our punishment?’ Marinette asked.

Mylène scowled through her tears. ‘You’re all acting like petulant children, you know that, right? The boys are perfectly nice once you get to know them, but you’re all too busy behaving like spoiled brats to see it. Just so you know, Ivan is a far better person than any of you could ever hope to be, and running into him by accident that one Saturday was the most glorious day of my life.’

Without speaking, Marinette turned to the supply closet to pull out a pot of glue. Tugging the lid off, she upended it over Mylène’s head. The glue dripped down her hair, face, and clothes, leaving little spots on the chair and floor.

Alix, as Mylène’s closest friend, delivered the second blow. Covering her hurt with righteous fury, she threw shredded newspaper over the glue, making sure the majority stuck to Mylène’s face.

One by one, each of the girls came forward to add to the mess with various art supplies. Finally, Mylène was a teary, yet defiant ruin covered in glue, paper, paint, glitter, and watery clay.

‘You got off easy,’ Aurore hissed as she stepped back.

Then, Marinette moved to stand in front of Mylène once more.

‘Know that from now on, you are in disgrace. You will spend the rest of the day in this state, covered in the filth of your transgressions. You will no longer take part in our plans, and you are banned from all future clandestine meetings. You no longer have our trust, our friendship, or our support. Henceforth, you are alone, branded as a traitor against your sisters, and our cause. Mylène Haprèle, I shun you.’

The others echoed those last three words with varying degrees of scorn as Alya cut the tape holding Mylène in place. The shreds hung from her clothes in sad ribbons, flapping weakly as she wiped her eyes.

Marinette closed her eyes against the sight, then turned her back on it. Her comrades followed her from the room just as the bell rang. They returned to their classroom, but Mylène didn’t come in after them.

_Probably ran home_ , Marinette guessed.

The boys came in five minutes later, looking shocked and appalled. Ivan was furious.

‘What did you do to Mylène?’ he demanded.

Marinette straightened up and shot him a level glare. ‘She was found guilty of associating with you.’

‘So, you cast her out? That’s cold, even for you,’ Nino said.

‘Because of her liaison, her integrity was compromised. We can’t have someone we don’t trust on our side,’ retorted Alya.

Ivan clenched his fists and gritted his jaw, but rather then reply, he stomped to his seat and sat with an indignant huff, the other boys reluctantly following his lead. It was then when Lila leaned forward to pour a whole pot of glue over Ivan’s head, followed immediately by Alya surging up to throw a tub of pink glitter over him.

‘That’s what you get for losing us our sister,’ she snapped.

Ivan cursed viciously under his breath as he attempted to wipe away as much of the mess as possible. After Alya had resumed her seat, Marinette leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

‘I never gave clearance for this,’ she hissed.

Alya shrugged, unrepentant. ‘It still needed to be done.’

As Marinette opened her mouth to answer, Caline entered. She stopped at her desk, staring at Ivan with wide eyes.

‘What happened?’ she asked, ‘and where’s Mylène?’

‘Fell over,’ Ivan grumbled.

‘She felt sick, so she went home,’ Alix told her blithely.

Caline cast a critical eye over the room, but when no one confessed to any wrongdoing, she sighed and began the afternoon lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette pondered what she should do about Mylène, thinking she would have to be subtle to avoid rousing suspicion, but ultimately came up with nothing in regards to punishments. She put all major pranks on hold while she thought it over, only letting the girls use simple pranks to keep the boys on their toes.
> 
> Over the weekend, all of Mari's books & equipment was replaced when her parents bought her story about a mishap by the maintenance crew in the school. She worked on altering her friends' clothes for a future plan, and finally came up with a strategy to deal with Mylène. With a mass text, she invited all of her cohorts over for a formal meeting, though she isn't looking forward to it.
> 
> After convening the meeting, Marinette wakes her computer to show everyone the video Alya took of Mylène and Ivan. Despite her attempts to defend herself, no one buys Mylène's excuses. She's deemed guilty of fraternising with the enemy, and is to be made an example of. She's forcibly marched back to school, where the other girls covered her with glue, paint, glitter, etc, and cast her out. However, Mylène had a few choice words of her own in retaliation, calling the other girls petulant children, and that Ivan is a far better person than any of them could ever hope to be. Mylène then ran home in tears, while the others returned to the classroom.
> 
> The boys entered a short time later, looking angry and appalled. Ivan was furious. He demanded to know why they did that to Mylène. Mari then explained it was because of him, while Alya pointed out they couldn't have a potential traitor in their midst. Unable to find a satisfactory retort, Ivan went to his seat, only to have Lila and Alya cover him in glue and glitter - punishment for his role in them losing a soldier. Mari tried to rebuke Alya for her unauthorised punishment of Ivan, but they were interrupted when Caline entered. Everyone maintained the code of silence, though, despite Caline asking what happened to him.
> 
> Yeah, real subtle girls. They're so stupidly dramatic. Sorry, Mylène T_T


	28. Adrien

Aghast at the girls’ thorough ostracization of one of their own, Adrien decided it was time to step up their game, so after classes finished, he called for a meeting at the local fast-food restaurant. All his classmates, Marc, Jean, and himself sat around a large Laminex table on hard plastic chairs, with the remains of their meals scattered across the surface.

Adrien cleared his throat. ‘Ok, so I think we can all agree that the way they treated Mylène was unnecessarily cruel.’

Ivan ground his teeth and hit the table with a tightly clenched fist. Glitter still clung to his person, but he had managed to remove the worst of it.

‘But it’s their system, their politics. We may have our own opinions, but do we have any right to interfere?’ asked Max.

Adrien tilted his hand from side to side. ‘I wouldn’t call it interfering, per se.’

‘Then what are you suggesting?’ enquired Nathaniel.

‘Just that we teach them a lesson, like what we’ve been doing.’

Nino grinned. ‘There’s more, isn’t there?’

‘As we know, those girls have been getting away with too much for too long, and humiliating Mylène like that was going overboard.’

‘It really was,’ Ivan agreed. ‘Mylène’s nice, and didn’t like what her friends were doing, or what they made her do. She’s a kind, gentle person when she’s not under their influence.’

‘So,’ Adrien continued, ‘what if we gave them a taste of their own medicine?’

Kim snorted. ‘What, doctor a photo to show one of them chatting it up with one of us?’

‘No, but that’s not a bad idea, either. Let’s keep that one in mind for later. But what I was thinking of was public humiliation, just like they did to Mylène, and to us. They need to know what it feels like.’

Nathaniel leaned in on his elbows. ‘What do you have in mind?’

Adrien tried to suppress a grin, but failed. ‘I’ve bought some things online, and they should arrive in the next few days. When they do, I’m going to need all your help to set things up. You guys in?’

‘You bet,’ Nino answered.

‘Definitely,’ agreed Ivan.

The others chorused their approval, then they parted ways with promises to stay in touch should things change unexpectedly.

Adrien got home to receive news that a package had arrived for him. Excited, he raced to his room and opened two dozen boxes of bang snaps. Stifling a squeal, he texted his friends, asking them to meet him early the following morning, and if any of them knew how to break and enter.

* * *

Before the sun was up on Tuesday morning, Adrien met his co-conspirators behind the bushes out the front of the school. Feeling the heady rush of adrenaline, they crept up the steps to gather around the front doors. To everyone’s astonishment, Ivan produced a key and opened them without fanfare.

He shrugged at their looks of amazement. ‘I saw Mylène yesterday, and she gave it to me. Her dad is the custodian, you know.’

‘So that’s how they’ve been able to set up such elaborate pranks,’ Nino muttered darkly.

Max ducked around them to deactivate the alarm, then they scurried inside. Once they were safely hidden from view, Adrien distributed his boxes of bang snaps as well as rolls of double-sided tape.

‘Stick two snaps to the underside of the girls’ toilet seats with the tape. On the seat, or the porcelain, it doesn’t matter. Either way, when they sit down,’ he splayed his fingers and puffed his cheeks out, imitating a small explosion.

‘Brilliant,’ Nino giggled.

Kim chortled. ‘That’ll scare the crap out of them.’

Nathaniel held up a finger. ‘Wait. Crap. I can work with this. Marc, come with me.’

Without any further explanation, they went upstairs, leaving their bang snaps behind. Adrien exchanged a puzzled look with the others, then shrugged.

They split into two teams. Kim, Max and Jean would booby trap the upstairs toilets, while Adrien, Nino, and Ivan would take the downstairs restroom.

Adrien led his team onward, and carefully planted their bombs amidst excited giggling.

Nino held up a snap, eyeing it critically. ‘Aren’t these bigger than your typical snaps?’

‘I thought that too,’ said Ivan.

Grinning wickedly, Adrien explained, ‘I may have combined a few snaps into these lovely beauties.’

‘Isn’t that dangerous?’

‘Only if you aren’t careful. I was very careful.’

They continued planting the bang snaps, though it was nervous work. The threat of discovery, combined with the possibility of one of them going off, left them all sweaty and anxious. However, they completed their task without incident, then met Kim, Max, and Jean in the courtyard.

‘Where are Nath and Marc?’ Adrien asked.

‘They were still fooling around with the toilets, last we saw,’ Kim replied, as he jerked his thumb back over his shoulder.

Adrien gave an easy shrug. ‘I’m sure there’s a reason. They’ll explain when they’re done.’

Nathaniel and Marc eventually came back downstairs, cradling a collection of white spheres the size of golf balls.

Nino raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak, Nathaniel tipped his head in the direction of the downstairs girls’ toilets. Obeying the unspoken command, they followed him inside, watching him expectantly.

Very carefully, he and Marc placed a ball on the back of the toilet bowl, under the seat. Once the seat was lowered, the bang snaps and the ball were completely concealed. They repeated the process on all the toilets, with the others watching on curiously.

‘What are those things?’ Kim asked, pointing at the leftover ball in Nathaniel’s hand.

His answering grin was sly. Walking back to the sinks, he said, ‘watch this.’

Nathaniel squeezed the ball until it burst. Thick brown fluid oozed down his hand to drip into the sink.

Kim made an exclamation of disgust, and pinched his nose shut. ‘It stinks.’

‘Yeah, it’s amazing what you’ll find in an art room. With any luck, the direction of the flow when they rupture will hit the girls directly.’

‘Dude,’ Nino laughed expansively.

‘Gentlemen,’ Adrien said, ‘it has been a pleasure working with you tonight. We make a fantastic team.’

They indulged in a quiet cheer, then crept outside once more, Max resetting the alarm and Ivan locking the doors behind them.


	29. Chloé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another embarrassing chapter ahead, but not too bad.

Biting her tongue against a groan, Chloé entered the school reluctantly. She met Sabrina in the locker room and together, they strode off to meet the others. Sabrina babbled about homework and upcoming assessments, but Chloé tuned her out, as she had been doing a lot lately. They found the rest of the girls at the base of the stairs leading to the second level.

‘I know you’re upset,’ Marinette was saying, ‘and we will get back at them. But you know these things take time.’

Alix and Lila grumbled bitterly, while Rose and Juleka shook their heads and frowned. Only Alya remained impassive, as she stood steadfastly by Marinette's side.

‘Just admit you’re out of ideas, Dupain-Cheng,’ Chloé drawled as she joined them.

Marinette turned to her with a disapproving frown. ‘Not helping.’

‘Since when have I ever helped anyone? But seriously, if you can’t think of a way to get back at the boys, let someone else play at being leader.’

Alya folded her arms. ‘Like you?’

Chloé waved her away with an indelicate snort. ‘Of course not. I don’t need the hassle. If anything, you should take this as an opportunity to redeem yourself, Césaire.’

‘Oh no,’ Alix said. ‘We are not having a repeat of the fish incident. I say it’s my turn to head an assault.’

‘Can you not call it that, please?’ Marinette asked in a resigned voice. ‘If anyone were to overhear, we could all be charged.’

‘Whatever. Can I lead a team or not?’

Chloé watched on as Marinette sighed and thought about it.

‘Ok, you can lead a team, but not until after we’ve deployed operation battle armour.’

Alix sucked in a breath between her teeth. ‘How long is that going to take? Do you even know how you’re going to use that strategy yet?’

Marinette scowled at her outburst. ‘Do not undermine me, Alix.’

The bell rang, cutting off Alix’s retort. Chloé rolled her eyes and followed the group to class, Marinette and Alix hissing at each other across the aisle until the boys and Madame Bustier arrived. 

This constant sniping had been the cause of Chloé’s withering enjoyment of their private war. The cohesion they had built fractured a little more each day, and the tiring rhetoric ultimately led nowhere. No developments, no plans, only bickering and jostling for power that didn’t exist. It was pathetic.

André Bourgeois was a politician who wielded real power, and he used it well. By contrast, their schoolyard squabbling was a pale and laughable imitation compared to the outside world.

Chloé longed for the days when it was just the girls vandalising the school for entertainment’s sake, and when the position of leader wasn’t so taxing. In those days, Chloé had wanted to rule, but since the boys came, that position was no longer as stable as it had once been, and there was now so much more at stake.

The responsibility was not one Chloé envied, so she’d withdrawn her bid for the leadership role. Instead, she opted to sit back and watch as everything crumbled down around Marinette.

As the situation deteriorated, so had Chloé’s interest. She still took slight pleasure in pranking the boys, but the moments of levity were brief, as the infighting wore her down.

_I can’t believe there was a time when I would have thrived on this_ , she thought wearily.

Not so long ago, Chloé had lived for drama. Yet since her mother had come home to stay, she often felt that she herself was the mature one of the two. Audrey’s tantrums were more exhausting than the bickering she had to put up with in school, making Chloé feel as if she’d aged far beyond her years in a very short time. As much as Chloé loved her mother, she also harboured a deep resentment at having to grow up so quickly when she ought to have been enjoying her teenage years.

_I’m going to get an ulcer at this rate_.

Her attention wandered for most of the morning, so Chloé started when the bell rang for break. She snapped her blank notebook shut and swept her belongings into her bag, before filing out after the other girls.

Following a long-standing habit, they all went to the toilets before doing anything else. Bypassing chattering students, she made her way to the restroom and into a stall, locking the door behind her.

With a weary sigh, she sat heavily on the seat.

A sudden, loud bang erupted around her and echoed throughout the room, just as something wet struck the bare skin on her lower back. Chloé squealed and shot up, momentarily forgetting her pants were still around her knees. She stumbled into the wall as she tried to spin around, and it was then she realised the noises going on around her weren’t echoes. The girls in every stall were setting off loud cracks, and shrieking in surprise.

Breathing heavily, her heart racing, Chloé looked over her shoulder at the mess dripping down her back.

‘Ew,’ she whined.

Desperately, she grabbed handfuls of toilet paper, and wiped it off as best she could. The putrid liquid had ruined the hem of her shirt, and the dripping muck had fallen to stain her pants in unfortunate places. When she pulled them up, her backside looked like she’d had the worst kind of accident.

Tears of humiliation burned her eyes, while furious shouts and blistering profanities left the mouths of those around her. Clenching her teeth, Chloé pulled out her phone and between sobs, begged her father to send someone to pick her up.

* * *

When her phone chimed with a text telling her the limo was waiting out front, Chloé took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and charged from the stall. Shoving other students aside, she raced outside with her bag held conspicuously over her rear.

A cluster of boys milled around the front doors, laughing at the despairing wails coming from the girls’ toilets. She felt no remorse when she ploughed into them in her haste to get out. She knocked Nathaniel and Max to their backsides, and elbowed Kim hard in the gut, leaving him bent double as he gasped for air while she continued her sprint to the car.

Slamming the door after herself, Chloé held back another sob, and ordered the driver to take her home. He did so with alacrity, parking in the private lot reserved for the Bourgeois family.

Keen to avoid witnesses, Chloé scampered inside via the service elevators and stairwells, until she reached the top floor. With her own suite in sight, she scurried forward until she could slam the door behind her.

Safe from further humiliation, Chloé shed her clothes and dropped them into the hamper. Whatever concoction the boys had used to make that brown mess stank terribly, and she was eager to get away from it, though it also meant the loss of her favourite outfit. Even if the launderers could remove the stains, her memory of the incident would foul those clothes for ever.

Chloé then took an extended shower, scrubbing until her skin turned pink, and the phantom sensation of viscous fluids running down her back abated. Only when she felt clean did she emerge from the bathroom, enveloped in a thick robe with a towel wrapped around her head.

In her bag, still sitting on the floor by the door, her phone chirped with a series of incoming messages. Forcing herself forward, Chloé retrieved it to see dozens of texts from Sabrina asking if she were ok.

_I’m fine. Stop pestering me_ , she sent back.

Sabrina had avoided the prank by mercy of her meek personality. Instead of shoving her way into a stall like Chloé did, she had allowed others to push her aside, as if their needs were greater than hers. For once, Chloé envied Sabrina’s good fortune, but also resented her for escaping the humiliation.

In a fit of pique, she threw her phone across the room, only for it to bounce off a chair back and land on the seat with a small thump. Chloé clenched her jaw and shrieked through her teeth at her thwarted tantrum.

A brusque knock at her door was her only warning before Audrey stepped inside.

‘I was informed you came home early. Goodness, why are you dressed like that?’

Chloé heaved a fortifying breath. ‘I just took a shower, obviously.’

Audrey rested her elbow on the palm of her free hand, and cocked her hip. ‘I know school can be dirty, but does that warrant calling your chauffeur just so you can come home for a shower? Really, Clara, I mean, Chloé. You ought to have grown out of such childish behaviour by now.’

Chloé curled her hands into fists, and clenched her jaw against a scathing retort. ‘I wasn’t being childish, Mother.’

‘Oh no? What was it, then?’

Shame and anger burned from the pit of her gut, all the way up to her throat. Eventually, humiliation won, and tears stung her eyes.

‘It was those awful boys,’ she wailed. ‘They set up some elaborate prank in the girls’ toilets that squirted nasty, brown muck up our backs when we sat down to pee. It stained my clothes, stank horribly, and I’ll never be able to show my face there again.’

Out of breath, she collapsed in a blubbering heap on the floor, her tears dripping into the carpet.

In a rare display of maternal affection, Audrey approached her quietly to kneel down and pat her back in a comforting, if awkward, manner.

‘You’re saying your school is allowing those nasty boys to bully my precious girl? The nerve of those cretins. Don’t worry, Chloé, Mummy will take care of it.’

With that, Audrey got up and left, closing the door behind her.

Chloé sat up, confused and forlorn. _She’s supposed to comfort me in my time of need. Isn’t that what mothers do?_

Huffing through her nose, Chloé gathered the shreds of her dignity, and pulled herself together. Sitting on the couch, she thought about what she could do. Shutting herself away wasn’t an option, as her pride was too great. Left without an alternative, Chloé decided she would walk into school the following day with her head held high, feeling bolstered by the fact that the other girls were surely planning their retribution already.

_Someone ought to show those boys how it feels_.

The thought flashed briefly through her mind, before she stopped and recalled that fateful Tuesday when she had callously decided how she was going to prove herself.

‘Oh.’

The severity of her actions that day had greater meaning now that she had experienced a token of that devastating humiliation first hand. A different type of shame sat heavily in her chest, as memories of their agonised faces bubbled to the surface.

‘I’ll be damned, maybe Mylène was right after all.’


	30. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good dad Gabe? Heck yeah!

The boys were still riding the high from their victory the following morning, greeting each other with loud bellows and enthusiastic thumps on the back.

Adrien, however, had mixed feelings. He was glad to have helped his friends, and seeing them so jubilant made him happy for them. Yet, it was the looks on the girls’ faces as they had run from school that left the cold weight of shame in his gut. Adrien didn’t argue that they had needed their comeuppance, but he wondered if he had gone too far, and how they would retaliate.

As he had predicted, their prank war had gone on tit for tat over the last few weeks, and it showed no signs of improving. Instead, the opposing sides only grew increasingly bitter and nasty, their pranks worsening with the passing days.

Adrien approached his friends with a vacant smile and a wave. They greeted him with warm grins and a clap on the back, as if they were welcoming home a war hero.

Nino was beaming. ‘Here’s the man of the hour. Welcome back, Dude.’

Adrien’s answering smile felt brittle. ‘Hey, guys. How’s it going?’

‘Great,’ replied Kim cheerily. ‘Look around; there’s not a girl in sight.’

Indeed, there were no girls on the front steps, nor were they in the courtyard, locker room, or the classroom. With fewer than ten minutes before classes were to begin, not a single girl had arrived, not even Mylène.

Nino shrugged off his bag, and slumped into his seat. ‘They’re probably staying home to lick their wounds.’

No one had a response for that, so they all took their seats in silence.

Just as the bell was scheduled to ring, the fire alarm sounded instead. Exchanging curious glances, they got up and filed out the door in an orderly fashion.

Adrien had just reached the courtyard floor when something wet, heavy, and wriggly doused him from head to toe. He gasped at the sudden deluge, as did every other boy around him.

Wiping the mud from his eyes, he looked around to see the others scraping muck, worms, and bugs from their persons, exclaiming in disgust. Above them, he saw the female students smirk as they pulled their empty buckets back over the railing, and scamper away before they were caught.

‘Guess we should’ve seen that coming,’ Nathaniel groused.

Max attempted to clean his glasses. ‘We let our guard down. I’m afraid we well and truly walked right into that one.’

‘At least no one got hurt,’ sighed Adrien.

The alarm shut off, and Principal Damocles thundered out of his office to glare around the courtyard.

‘All right, which smart alec set off the fire alarm?’ He blinked, then screwed his face up in confusion. ‘The school is not an appropriate place for a mud fight, gentlemen. Go home and clean yourselves up. Then, you can come back and clean up this mess.’

Nathaniel balked. ‘I can’t just go home. I left my bag upstairs.’

The boys from the other classes had no such issue. They all had their grimy bags hanging from their shoulders, and were already heading out with disgruntled mutterings.

Nino’s head fell back as he groaned. ‘Me too. Let’s just go get them. We can flick mud at the girls while we’re at it.’

Adrien trudged after the others, still flinging insects and filth from his hands.

* * *

The faintly unpleasant aroma of the mud faded as it dried. Unfortunately, it matted Adrien’s hair, and ruined his clothing. Bugs still struggled weakly where they were caught in his pockets, and his feet squelched.

_I’m going to have to throw out this entire outfit,_ he lamented as he pushed the front door of his house open. _Father will not be pleased_.

Nathalie strode from Gabriel's office, tablet in hand to peruse while she spoke to him.

‘What are you doing home so soon?’

She paused when she finally looked at him, her eyes widening.

Adrien held his arms out, before letting them fall to his sides, indicating his helplessness at the mud coating him. Before he could elaborate, Gabriel emerged with a severe expression, his phone held tight in a white-knuckled grip. He stopped when he saw Adrien, his scowl deepening.

‘Get cleaned up, then come to my office. I need to speak with you.’

‘Yes, Father.’

Adrien put his ruined clothes in the garbage, before stepping into the shower. It took him fifteen minutes to wash his hair, and another ten to scrub his skin. When he was sure he’d removed the smell, he brushed his teeth for good measure, then dressed in fresh clothes before speaking with his father.

Gabriel was sitting at the dining table with his arms crossed, one finger tapping with barely concealed impatience. Adrien slipped into the seat beside him and wrung his hands in his lap while he waited for Gabriel to begin.

‘I’ve been speaking with Audrey Bourgeois,’ he stated. ‘She claimed that the male students at your school have been tormenting her daughter, and targeting her without provocation.

‘However, you come home filthy, with your clothes ruined. There was also that unfortunate incident with the glue on your seat, that fishy smell you never adequately explained, and that food poisoning scare. The more I think on it, the more occurrences come to mind. 

‘It seems as if Mademoiselle Bourgeois is giving as good as she gets, but I would still prefer to hear about this from my own son, not from an irate diva with a painfully strident voice.’

He regarded Adrien with an expectant look, and uncrossed his arms to lay his hands on the table, his fingers still tapping irritably.

Adrien bit his lip, his gaze drifting aside. ‘I can’t tell you, Father. I’m sorry.’

‘Why not?’

‘There's a code of silence. It’ll be my hide if I go tattling to an adult.’

Gabriel hummed pensively. ‘That didn’t seem to stop Chloé.’

Snorting derisively, Adrien curled his lip. ‘She’ll make sure no one finds out, or discredit anyone who tries to out her. She’s crafty like that.’

‘Are you not as crafty?’

Adrien blinked, then whipped his head up to stare at Gabriel in astonishment.

‘What?’

Gabriel sighed. ‘It doesn’t take any great wit to keep your mouth shut, Son. Certainly, I have no intention of interacting with your peers, so word of you telling me about what has been going on is unlikely to spread, sparing you the adverse repercussions of tattling.’

‘I see.’

‘So, are you going to tell me, or must I guess? You know I despise games.’

Nodding, Adrien swallowed and took a deep breath. He told Gabriel everything, from the initial prank, to Chloé’s involvement, his own misgivings, and his regrettable contributions. Gabriel listened, nodding along and asking questions until he had the whole, sordid tale. Adrien heaved a deep breath, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

‘That must have been a trial for you,’ Gabriel commiserated.

‘It felt like a lot to deal with, but I still want to go to school,’ he clarified, suddenly afraid he’d be pulled out.

‘Of course. You’ve made friends there, so it’s natural to want to support them during their time of need.’

‘So, I can keep going?’

Gabriel nodded.

A tension he hadn’t realised was there lifted from Adrien’s chest. ‘Thank you, Father. But I still don’t know what I’m going to do about school. The girls are out of control.’

Gabriel frowned as he thought. ‘Somehow, I think this has grown beyond your ability to handle. Leave it to me, Son.’

Adrien tensed up again. ‘What? No, Father, you can’t interfere.’

Gabriel raised a brow. ‘Why not?’

‘Because I have to do this on my own. You need to let me fight my own battles.’ He gazed up at his father, silently begging him to understand.

He sighed, and removed his glasses to rub his forehead. ‘Sometimes, I forget how grown up you are. Very well, I will keep my distance. For now.’

The stiffness in Adrien’s shoulders eased and he smiled. ‘Thank you, Father, and thanks for listening; it means a lot to me.’

‘Of course, Son. Any time.’


	31. Alya

Tapping at her earpiece, Alya listened carefully to the conversation going on in Principal Damocles’ office. He was on the phone, so she could only hear half of the discussion, but what she could infer did not inspire confidence. She scowled as Principal Damocles mentioned a name she recognised.

The phone call concluded, and Alya had to scurry toward the library to avoid detection, but Principal Damocles did not emerge.

Huffing irritably, Alya checked the time. She had already been gone for too long, so she put her spy gear away and raced back to class. She slipped in as unobtrusively as possible, but Madame Bustier still turned to her with a disapproving expression.

‘Does it really take that long to go to the bathroom, Alya?’

She chuckled nervously. ‘Sorry, Ma’am. If I could plug up my uterus, I would.’

Madame Bustier grimaced, then turned back to the chalkboard without further comment.

While her attention was diverted, Alya stealthily tore a scrap from her notebook and wrote Marinette a message.

_I have news. You won’t like it_.

Marinette’s reply was immediate. _When have I ever liked it? Should I call a meeting?_

Alya bit her lip, thinking hard. _I don’t think so, not yet anyway. We need time to think about it, and the others would only panic_.

Marinette's head snapped up to look at her in alarm, before her features smoothed out. She nodded once, then turned her attention back to the lesson, her brow furrowed.

Alya was sorry for making her worry. Her news wasn’t as dire as she’d made it seem, and Marinette was easily distressed. Unfortunately, the news was still serious enough to warrant due consideration. Singularly, it was nothing they hadn’t faced before, but this time it was a multi-faceted problem, and that was new. Worry began niggling inside Alya’s chest, especially at the thought of having to tell the others what she’d heard.

The fact that Wednesday was a half day was its only saving grace. The morning lessons had frayed Marinette's nerves, even though the boys had been sent home early.

Alya led her back to the bakery, and up to her room where they collapsed into the desk chairs, their bags abandoned on the floor by the trapdoor.

‘Ok, what did you need to tell me?’ asked Marinette.

Alya sighed and sank lower in her seat. ‘Principal Damocles was on the phone today. It seems someone complained to the school board, so now they’re sending someone out for an inspection.’

Marinette’s eyes sharpened, her face settling into a stern expression. ‘Who submitted the complaint?’

‘Audrey Bourgeois.’

Marinette stilled, but her expression remained the same. ‘Any idea why?’

‘It seems Chloé told her she was being tormented by the boys.’

Alya watched as Marinette gaped, before she snapped her mouth shut with a click. Her face shifted as she thought about her options, and the consequences thereof. Finally, she swallowed.

‘On one hand, this may be our best opportunity to get rid of the boys. On the other, Chloé has broken our code of silence. I hate to admit it, but I'm stumped.’

Alya hummed as she thought. ‘Well, we don’t have to tell anyone about Chloé’s involvement yet. I say we deal with the inspection first, and if it results in getting our school back, we can let Chloé off the hook with only a warning, just this once.’

‘What if it doesn’t?’

‘We pretend we only just learned about her oath breaking, and punish her accordingly.’

‘It’s a little underhanded, but I don’t see an alternative. So, how can we make it look like the boys aren’t adapting to their new school, and need to be removed immediately?’

They exchanged ideas until early evening. Unfortunately, they had not come up with anything that would provide long-term results. Setting the boys up so they took the blame for a prank against the inspector would see only a few of them removed from the school, and would probably be quickly replaced by more. Yet humiliating them ran the risk of earning the inspector’s sympathies rather than see them punished, so that wouldn’t work either.

Alya and Marinette discussed the possibility of the girls playing victim to the boys’ constant pranking, but the student body was so rarely asked their opinions on anything that mattered, which was how they found themselves in this situation to begin with.

‘Ugh, this sucks,’ Alya grumbled as she walked home.

Her mood had soured as she walked, so she slammed the front door shut after herself, ignoring Etta’s and Ella’s shrieks of surprise.

‘Hey, take it easy,’ Nora admonished her. ‘What did the door ever do to you?’

Alya bit back a snide retort, and took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, just got some bad news today.’

‘Still can’t get those boys to budge, huh?’

Alya almost tripped over her own feet. ‘How did you know?’

Nora raised an eyebrow. ‘Seriously? You aren’t subtle, like, at all. I can hear you talking when you’re conspiring with your fellow hooligans late at night. Luckily for you, I just so happen to agree with you.’

Alya was astounded. ‘You do?’

‘Well, yeah. I used to go to that school too, you know. It was all-girl turf then, and that’s the way it should stay, so don’t let those boys push you out now.’

‘We’re not letting them do anything, but no matter what we try, we can’t get them to leave. Now, we have an inspector coming, ‘cause someone’s parent complained to the board.’

‘So now, you need to make the boys look bad in front of the inspector,’ Nora concluded.

‘Exactly, but we can’t think of anything that’ll produce long-term results.’ Alya waved her arms in exasperation with a gusty sigh.

Nora waved a dismissive hand. ‘You’re over-thinking things, as usual. Listen, the simplest plans are often the best ones.’

Alya put her hands on her hips and frowned. ‘Well, what would you suggest, O Wise One?’

Smirking, Nora said, ‘fall down.’

‘What?’

‘Fall down in front of the inspector, and say a boy pushed you. When he asks for clarification, you take the chance to tell him that’s how the boys have behaved since they arrived. You say it’s like the boys saw a group of sheltered, helpless girls, and couldn’t seem to stop themselves. They took advantage of your trust and naivety, and bullied you terribly, possibly traumatising you for life. Boys are all naturally vicious animals, right?’

Alya stared at her in amazement.

‘I have to call Marinette,’ she blurted, pulling her phone from her pocket as she ran to her room.

When Marinette answered, Alya explained Nora’s plan, gushing over the beautiful simplicity of it all. 

‘But won’t that just end in a “he said, she said” scenario?’ Marinette asked dubiously.

‘Not if we have Mireille do it. She still has a clean record, and with her face, it’ll be a cinch. All she’d have to do is tear up, and the inspector will be putty in her hand.’

Marinette sighed. ‘Well, I can’t think of anything better. I’ll call for a meeting after school tomorrow. In the meantime, I want you to find out as much as you can about the inspection.’

‘Got it. See you tomorrow.’

They hung up, then Alya got to work hacking into the school’s systems. She found Principal Damocles’ email account, and noted that the inspection would be conducted soon. No specific person had been named as the inspector, but she wasn’t worried. Mireille was a consummate actress, sure to win the sympathies of anyone, male or female.

Alya grinned as the beginnings of a plan fell into place.


	32. Nino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next day...

The girls were up to something, Nino could tell from the smug expressions and knowing looks they shot at the boys. He was sure it wouldn’t bode well for himself or his comrades; nothing good came from those faces.

‘They’re planning something,’ Nino muttered as he scowled at a group of passing girls.

‘Aren’t they always?’ Nathaniel asked.

Nino shook his head. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this one. It’s gonna be big, mark my words.’

Adrien patted him consolingly on the shoulder. ‘There’s no point worrying about it before it happens. You’ll only stress yourself out.’

Nodding, he took a deep breath. ‘You’re right. The only thing we can do is brace ourselves by preparing our own defences.’

‘Yeah,’ Adrien drawled, ‘that’s what I meant.’

Nino let the comment slide. He could tell Adrien regretted his actions against the girls, and would prefer it if everyone found a peaceful resolution. However, such an outcome was unlikely, as there was already too much bitterness between the two sides.

Despite his own simmering resentment, Nino couldn’t begrudge Adrien his hopeless optimism. He was a pacifist at heart, and having his childhood friend on the opposing side had affected him more than he let on. Nino couldn’t imagine how much it must have hurt him when Chloé declared her hostility against him. So, he let Adrien’s hopes for a peaceful future be.

When the bell rang, they all trooped to class keeping a watchful eye on the girls as they went. They didn’t do anything overt and nothing appeared to have been tampered with, but Nino wasn’t taking anything for granted. He took all necessary precautions before he sat down, including patting his seat to check for pins. Alya laughed at his paranoia, but he just shot her a resentful glare before settling in.

Caline entered, clapping her hands to get their attention. ‘Calm down, students, we have a lot to cover today. First, though, I would like to talk about our upcoming inspection.’

There was a gasp of surprise from many students, including a few girls, Nino noted with interest.

_So, this isn’t common knowledge_ , he mused _. Though, I wonder how many of them did know, and why didn’t they share that information with the rest of them_.

‘Yes,’ Caline went on, ‘we have another inspection coming up. I'm sure it’s nothing to worry about, probably just a routine progress check to see how the boys are fitting in.’

‘Yeah, just swell,’ Nino muttered sourly.

He did not want to dwell on the triumphant, if whispered cheering going on behind him. He wondered if Alya and Marinette had somehow orchestrated the inspection.

‘I’m sure I don’t need to remind you all to be on your best behaviour,’ Caline continued. ‘The future of our school could depend on the inspector’s report to the Minister for Education. Girls, I’m sure you remember the budget cuts we suffered after the last inspection.’

There were scattered moans and mumbled complaints, while Alix thumped her head against her desk.

‘Exactly,’ Caline agreed. ‘So, we need to make a good impression. I’d like you to all to dress nicely, be polite, and study hard. We’ll prove to the board that we deserve more money and resources to help you on your road to becoming well-educated, productive members of society.’

She concluded her speech to a small round of applause and giggled behind her hand, before instructing the class to open their textbooks.

Nino still couldn’t shake the feeling that the girls had something to do with this, yet he couldn’t see how. None of them had the clout to directly interfere with the Minister for Education, and he said as much over lunch at their favourite fast-food place. The other guys looked equally perplexed and concerned, though only Adrien had any information to offer.

‘You didn’t know? Chloé’s dad is the mayor of Paris.’

Nino choked on his drink, while Kim spat his burger across the table.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ they exclaimed in unison.

Adrien mournfully shook his head.

Max sighed. ‘Bourgeois; I should have realised.’

‘My dad’s always telling me to pay more attention to politics,’ Nathaniel muttered.

‘We’re doomed,’ stated Ivan.

Nino held his hands up. ‘Surely the Mayor has no authority over the Minister for Education. He has no real power there, right?’

They all turned expectantly to Max, who shrugged helplessly.

‘I have no idea, sorry.’

Adrien cleared his throat. ‘André Bourgeois isn’t the one we need to worry about.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Max.

‘While Chloé’s dad is the Mayor, it’s her mother who’s the driving force in that relationship. Father says Audrey Bourgeois is like a juggernaut, a painfully shrill natural disaster of a woman who won’t be satisfied until she gets her way.’

‘So, that’s where Chloé gets it from,’ groused Kim.

Adrien nodded. ‘For all his power, André is weak in the face of his wife and daughter when they’re on the warpath. To be fair, I don’t think anyone could stand in the way of hurricane Audrey.’

‘That’s just great,’ Nino grumbled. ‘We have one of the most powerful families in France working against us.’

‘Two,’ Max corrected. ‘Lila comes from a family of diplomats. If they choose to get involved, there’s no telling what could happen.’

Kim and Ivan both muttered a string of profanities.

‘We’re not completely out of luck,’ Adrien said in an attempt to cheer them up. ‘I come from a very influential family myself.’

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. ‘What does your father do?’

Adrien blushed as he curled in on himself. ‘He’s a fashion designer.’

Kim mumbled another blistering expletive, while the other boys shook their heads and sighed.

‘He’s famous all over the world,’ Adrien added meekly.

Nino patted him on the back. ‘No offence, but what can a glorified tailor do against the Mayor?’

Adrien fell silent, his ears still red, as the mood around the table plummeted.

Nino sighed. ‘Look, we all know the girls are going to pull something during the inspection. Just do your best, keep vigilant, and stay together. We’ll deal with the fallout when it comes.’

Disheartened, the boys finished their lunch, then trudged back to school.


	33. Adrien

On Friday morning, Mylène returned to school, but rather than seek out the company of the girls who had shunned her, she went straight to Ivan. He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, and glared at anyone who stared too long. Adrien approached them slowly, waving a greeting with a warm smile.

‘Hey, Mylène. Welcome back.’

Immediately, Ivan grew less defensive, and Mylène gave him a timid smile in return.

‘Thanks,’ she murmured.

Around them, the other girls walked by as if Mylène wasn’t there. They didn’t even frown their disapproval, but it was clear that Mylène felt it. She cowered under Ivan’s arm and gripped his shirt, with her shoulders hunched and tense. Adrien stood on her free side, doing his best to shield her from view, while Ivan gave him a grateful nod.

Nino, Nathaniel, and Marc arrived then, approaching the group as if nothing were out of the ordinary. They welcomed Mylène back as if she had always been a part of their gang, and included her in the conversation as they caught up. She responded readily, albeit quietly, though no one blamed her for her timidity.

Then Kim and Max showed up. A ripple of uncertainty passed through the group, until Kim waved and hollered an obnoxious hello.

‘Hey,’ he said as he joined the rest of them. ‘Is this your new girlfriend?’

Ivan scowled back. ‘Yeah, so what?’

Taken aback by his blunt honesty, Kim blinked then awkwardly patted Ivan on the back.

‘Good for you, Dude. Congrats.’

The tension eased, and they were soon indulging in some good-natured ribbing, mostly at Kim’s expense.

‘Now we just need to get the rest of you guys a girlfriend,’ he teased.

Nino shook his head. ‘No way. I’m not dating anyone. The girls at this school have put me off for life. No offence, Mylène.’

‘None taken.’

Adrien and Max echoed Nino’s statement, so Kim them turned to Nathaniel and Marc.

‘What about you guys? Want me to set you up with some hot chicks?’

Marc averted his eyes and rubbed his arm. ‘Actually, I’m gay.’

‘And I’m already seeing someone,’ Nathaniel added, in a deliberate attempt to take their attention off Marc.

Successfully distracted, Kim’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. ‘Who?’

Nathaniel jerked his thumb at Marc. ‘Him.’

After a round of raucous cheering at the expertly delivered line, the bell rang, announcing the start of another day. Adrien fell into step beside Nino, and grinned wide as their good-natured goading continued.

‘You sure talk big,’ Nino teased Kim as they climbed the stairs. ‘As if you even know any hot chicks. You don’t even have a girlfriend, you hypocrite.’

Kim looked insulted. ‘I’ll have you know, I do have a girlfriend. Her name’s Ondine, and she’s super pretty.’

‘Yeah, right,’ snorted Ivan.

‘It’s true,’ he stressed. ‘I met her at swimming practice, and she has heaps of really cute friends. Man, you guys don’t know what you’re missing.’

The others jeered disdainfully until they reached the classroom.

They all sobered when they saw that the girls were already seated, stony faced and staring at the front of the room. Adrien exchanged a meaningful look with Nino, then they quietly took their seats, as the other boys followed suit. Mylène squeezed in next to Ivan, rather than try to reclaim her old place beside Alix. Caline entered and raised an eyebrow at the new arrangement, but let it go without comment.

‘Good morning, students,’ she began. ‘As you all know, we are to have an inspection next week. So, I’d like to remind you to be on your best behaviour during that time. We want to present our best face to the inspector, so please dress respectably, and pay attention in class.’

Marinette put her hand up. At Caline’s nod, she asked, ‘do you know which day they’re coming?’

‘Monday, bright and early.’

‘Do we know who it’ll be?’ Alya enquired, barely remembering to raise her hand.

‘I believe it’s Monsieur Ancien Débauché.’

Adrien didn’t like Alya’s hissed cheer; now he was as certain as Nino that the girls were going to try something during the inspection. 

* * *

At lunch, the boys convened once again at their favourite fast food place, this time accompanied by Mylène. She hadn’t budged from Ivan’s side while at school, and chose to use the restaurant’s bathroom instead of the school toilets. Adrien wasn’t surprised, but it did sadden him.

Kim bit into his burger. ‘They’re going to pull something, aren’t they?’

Max closed his eyes. ‘Swallow, then speak.’

‘We can practically guarantee it,’ Nino agreed, ignoring Max’s comment.

There was a collective groan of misery as everyone lowered their burgers or drinks.

Adrien turned hopefully toward Mylène as she sat back down.

‘Do you have any insight on what we should be preparing for?’

She thought for a moment as she fiddled with her straw. ‘They’ll want to discredit you, make you look bad in front of the inspector, so he’ll make the decision to remove you from the school. How they’ll do that is anyone’s guess.’

‘Is there anything we can do to defend ourselves?’ asked Nino.

She shrugged. ‘I suppose you could counter their smear campaign by making them seem less credible. The inspector won’t be able to take them seriously if his opinion of them has been lowered.’

‘That’s great,’ Max cheered, ‘but how do we do that?’

‘It’ll be hard,’ Mylène warned them. ‘Monsieur Débauché is very old fashioned, but a closet pervert. The girls won’t have to try hard at all to get him on side.’

‘That explains why Alya was so happy,’ groused Nino.

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. ‘So, we need to make them seem unappealing to an old pervert. What turns an old guy off of younger girls?’

‘Gross, old granny panties,’ Kim suggested.

‘Their obsession with their phones,’ added Max.

‘Greed and selfishness,’ Nino put in.

Ivan rubbed his hands together. ‘Gents, and lady, I think we know what we have to do.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, Ancien Débauché is not a real name. It's just two words thrown together, literally meaning Ancient and Debauched.   
> So, basically, "Old Pervert."  
> Consider this your Gross Old Man alert. He doesn't do anything, but he definitely gives off a creepy vibe.


	34. Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse my appalling lack of artistic skill

Monday morning dawned bright and warm, perfect for deploying operation Battle Armour. After a shower, Marinette put on a white blouse, but left a few buttons strategically unfastened. Over that went a charcoal vest cut daringly low, and tailored to accentuate her narrow waist.

Her pink skirt was short, plaid, and pleated, with a lace petticoat just visible under the hem. Paired with thigh-high socks and ordinary black shoes, she looked every inch the “naughty school girl.” She was sure Inspector Ancien Débauché would appreciate it.

Marinette tied her hair up, grabbed her bag, then raced outside through the side door before her parents saw her. She was eager to see what her friends looked like, so she didn’t want Tom or Sabine delaying her with their parental disapproval.

To her delight, her classmates had gathered at the base of the front steps to wait for her. All the other students were already inside, assembled in the courtyard to await Inspector Débauché’s arrival.

Marinette grinned. ‘Looking good, ladies.’

‘We do look pretty hot,’ agreed Alya as she adjusted her glasses. Her usual attire had been shortened to expose her belly and legs, her top tied in a knot just under her bust. The tank top she usually wore under her shirt was now replaced by a sheer camisole designed to draw the eye to her décolletage rather than hide it.

‘Please, I always look good,’ Chloé told them. She wore a black and yellow halter top with white capris, and satin wedge shoes. Sabrina hovered behind her in smaller shorts than she usually wore and long socks, but little else had changed. She hadn’t felt brave enough to be as daring as Chloé.

‘Do you think we’ll win over the inspector?’ asked Lila as she pulled up her stockings.

Juleka tugged lace gloves up her arms. ‘Unless he’s suddenly gone blind, then yeah. Should be a snap.’

Marinette clapped her hands. ‘Well then, if everyone’s ready, let’s go inside.’

She marched up the stairs with the other girls fanning out on either side of her. Everyone turned to watch their grand entrance, and she was gratified to see the boys’ jaws drop. Beside her, Alya tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle, but quickly schooled her features. Marinette nodded in approval at Aurore and Mireille as she passed, pleased to see that they too had forgone their usual attire for short skirts and low-cut tops.

Joining the rest of her class standing before the principal’s podium, Marinette slid in close beside Adrien to smirk up at him. He blushed, then averted his gaze to stare resolutely at Principal Damocles as he took his place in front of the microphone.

‘Good morning, _Collège Françoise Dupont_ ,’ Principal Damocles began. ‘Welcome to another week of learning, growing, and friendship.’

No one snorted, derided, or mocked him for his ignorance this time. Everyone, including the girls, chose to wait patiently for him to get to the point.

‘As you all heard, we’re honoured today to welcome Inspector Ancien Débauché back to our school.’

The pupils clapped politely as an older gentleman in a brown suit ascended the platform to stand next to the Principal. He tipped his head in acknowledgement of the welcome, then stepped back to allow Principal Damocles to continue.

‘Inspector Débauché will be here all day touring the school, observing lessons, and taking the time to chat with a few of you. Other than that, treat today as you would any other day, so focus on your lessons and don’t allow yourselves to be distracted by his presence. He’s not here to frighten or intimidate you.’

Principal Damocles laughed at his own joke, though no one else did. He trailed off into an awkward silence, then cleared his throat. ‘All right, dismissed.’

The classes obediently followed their respective teachers to their rooms, the girls with a little extra swish in their step. Marinette winked at Adrien, then followed Alya upstairs. She could feel his eyes on her, which only heightened her own sense of achievement, especially since she had all the boys’ downfall in the palm of her hand.

 _Femme fatale indeed_ , she thought triumphantly.

They settled at their desks, for once untampered with, to await the beginning of class. Caline smiled, pleased by her students’ good behaviour, and opened her lecture with a distinct air of approval. She prudently kept her opinions on their choice of dress to herself.

Marinette and her cohorts maintained their model student cover all morning, and when they were let out for lunch, they packed up and left in an orderly fashion to the cafeteria.

Inspector Débauché was already there, talking with a group of female students. Marinette could tell by his flushed cheeks and twitching smile that he was responding well to the flattery the girls heaped upon him.

Alya leaned over to whisper in her ear. ‘The old pervert is sure in his element today.’

Marinette smirked. ‘He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into; like an old dog swimming in a pool of piranhas.’

‘Look,’ Alix interrupted, pointing behind them at a group of male students in the doorway. The boys from their class, and Mylène, were walking just a short distance behind Marinette's own gang, as they looked around for a spare table.

Marinette narrowed her eyes as she altered her previous plans at the last minute, then deliberately stepped into the other group’s path. Once they were close enough, she cried out and threw herself to the floor.

‘He pushed me,’ she wailed, pointing at Adrien.

Inspector Débauché was by her side in an instant. ‘Dear me, are you all right, Mademoiselle?’

Accepting his helping hand up, Marinette leaned heavily against his side while she pretended to test her ankle.

‘It hurts,’ she uttered plaintively.

Inspector Débauché glared at Adrien. ‘Don’t you have something to say to this poor young lady?’

‘I didn’t even touch her,’ he argued, as his friends backed him up.

‘They’re lying,’ Alya countered. ‘I saw the whole thing. He deliberately pushed her over.’

The other girls confirmed this version of events just as vociferously as the boys supported Adrien.

Momentarily distracted, Inspector Débauché gave Alya a disapproving frown. ‘Mademoiselle, why are you dressed so immodestly? One’s midsection should not be on display on school grounds.’

 _His opinion might hold more weight if he weren’t blushing and panting like a bellows_ , Marinette thought critically.

Ever the quick thinker, Alya curled her shoulders in, bit her lip, and scuffed her toe. ‘The boys told us this is how they want us to dress from now on. They said no boys would like us if we continued to dress the way we used to.’

Inwardly, Marinette crowed with delight. Alya’s coy yet naïve act got the exact reaction she had hoped for. Inspector Débauché snorted in outrage as he turned on the male students.

‘For shame,’ he cried. ‘A lady’s modesty is a thing of beauty, and ought to be preserved; her purity is far more enticing than some cheap peep show. Shame on you for telling them to expose themselves, and subjecting them to the leering eyes of indecent men. You boys have no class or respect for the truly wonderous things in life.’

‘What the hell kind of scolding was that?’ muttered Kim. ‘Are we in trouble, or is he telling us about his own kinks?’

Inspector Débauché’s face turned an unappealing puce.

‘Such impertinence,’ he bellowed.

Chloé attached herself to his other arm. ‘These animals have been like this since the moment they arrived. It’s like they all took one look at us helpless, sheltered girls, and thought they could take advantage of us. All boys are such beasts.’

Mireille, adjusting quickly to the change in roles, stepped in. She wiped a tear from her eye and sniffled. ‘It’s true. The boys in the other classes are the same. If we don’t to as we’re told, they criticise us horribly. It’s a school-wide problem.’

‘How heinous. Truly reprehensible,’ Inspector Débauché muttered darkly.

While he continued to grumble, the girls allowed him to offer his comfort. The boys watched on with expressions of unmitigated revulsion, then slowly edged out of his reach to walk around him in a wide arc.

Marinette continued to cling to the inspector’s arm and flatter him, while Rose and Mireille mourned bygone days when the school had been the safe, sole territory of female kind.

Inspector Débauché nodded along, while Marinette did her best to hide a victorious smirk. Because of her girls’ quick thinking, it was only a matter of time before the boys were removed, and the school was hers once more.


	35. Nino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That same day...

Nino knew they were at a disadvantage the instant Mylène told them the inspector was biased. So, he’d spent the weekend cleaning his mother’s hairbrush, and tugging the loose, sodden hair from his family’s bath and shower drains. He kept the clumps in a zip-lock bag, which he took out during the afternoon classes, to surreptitiously drape the foul strands over Alya's shoes and backpack. To his relief, she had yet to notice what he was doing.

Nathaniel had surprised them all when he presented the group with Inspector Débauché’s phone and wallet. He’d expertly picked the man’s pockets as he’d circled behind him, while the girls provided an unintentional distraction. Nathaniel handed the phone to Adrien to plant on Marinette, but he’d kept the wallet to set Lila up with.

Adrien straightened up in his seat, giving Nino a subtle nod after placing the pilfered phone between Marinette's foot and schoolbag. It was a nice phone too, one of the latest models with an obviously customised cover.

Nino leaned over to whisper in Adrien’s ear. ‘How’s Kim doing?’

Adrien shot a sneaky glance over his shoulder, then turned back with a grin. ‘Lots of chocolate wrappers by Alix. He and Max must be having a blast.’

In an attempt to make the girls seem as gross as possible, Max and Kim bought a massive box of chocolates and ate them in class, but left Alix with the litter by dropping the wrappers under the table. She already had an impressive collection of shiny foil squares by her feet and under her chair, while Max’s and Kim’s cheeks bulged noticeably. They were so unsubtle it was almost funny.

With less than an hour until the final bell, Inspector Débauché entered their classroom to conduct the final part of his inspection, though he looked perturbed. Nino raised an eyebrow as the Inspector patted down his pockets, and frowned when he came up empty-handed.

‘Is something wrong, Inspector?’ Caline asked.

‘I seem to have misplaced my personal effects,’ he explained.

‘Oh dear, that’s no good. Marinette, help him look, will you?’

Nino had to bite his tongue as Marinette stood up and kicked the inspector’s phone into the aisle, only to then step on the device with a damning crunch.

The room stilled as a heavy silence fell. Slowly, Marinette looked down as her face drained of colour. Inspector Débauché, by contrast, was turning redder by the second. She stammered as she tried to apologise and find an excuse at the same time, but it was too late. The damage was done, and Inspector Débauché was livid.

‘Mademoiselle, why did you feel the need to take my phone, and then destroy it?’

Alya scooted to Marinette's end of the bench to stand beside her. ‘It wasn’t her fault, Sir. I swear it.’

Unfortunately, he wasn’t listening. Ancien Débauché was staring at Alya’s feet with a look of growing horror.

‘What filth is that?’ he shrieked, pointing at Alya’s shoes.

Perplexed, she looked down, then leapt back with a loud screech. ‘What the heck is this?’

She kicked and wiggled her feet to dislodge the mess, but it stuck as if the stagnant water were glue.

‘Hold still,’ Alix ordered. She moved to assist, but chocolate wrappers tumbled down around her feet to cascade down the aisle steps.

‘Litter,’ Inspector Débauché gasped. ‘How can such a tiny girl produce so much litter? It’s unsightly.’

Alix turned on him, outraged at the injustice.

‘It’s not mine,’ she cried.

‘Oh, I suppose a magical litter bug just stopped by to leave its mess before conveniently flying away, did it? This is repulsive; clean it up immediately.’

Silently, Caline handed Alix the waste paper basket with a severe frown. Muttering under her breath, Alix snatched the bin, and began scooping up the wrappers while Alya peeled the wet hair off her shoes.

Marinette snapped out of her stupor, and picked up the ruined phone. She handed it back to Inspector Débauché looking ashamed and guilty. Inspector Débauché seized the device to stare mournfully at it, while Marinette slunk back to her seat.

_Honestly, this couldn’t have gone better if we’d rehearsed it_ , Nino silently cheered.

Beside him, Adrien looked giddy.

Once the room had settled, and the girls were all back in their seats, Caline sighed.

‘Ok, who would like to help the inspector look for his remaining items?’

Lila put up her hand. ‘I’ll do it.’

Nino struggled to keep his face expressionless.

As Lila traipsed down the centre aisle, the missing wallet fell from her back pocket to spill a handful of cash over the steps behind her. Lila froze, her smile fixed and brittle as she realised what happened.

Wordlessly, but with his face as ominous as a thundercloud, Inspector Débauché held out his hand expectantly. Lila snatched up his wallet, stuffing the notes back inside, and handed it back with alacrity, but it was too late. Ancien Débauché stormed from the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Everyone stared after him in stunned silence, then Caline snapped.

‘Go after him and apologise, immediately.’

Rather than just the four girls, the whole class rushed from the room – the girls to offer their apologies and excuses, and the boys to watch the fallout. Caline, flustered after losing control of the situation, ran to fetch Principal Damocles.

Nino wished he had a bucket of popcorn as he watched the girls try to repair the damage, or turn the blame back on the boys. However, Inspector Débauché refused to listen, even calling the girls hellions and thieves as he continued to walk across the courtyard.

Other classes appeared at doorways and windows to see the drama unfold, some of those boys even taking advantage of the opportunity to add to the disaster.

‘What is going on down there?’ Principal Damocles thundered from the top of the stairs.

Everyone began speaking at once, all yelling over each other in an attempt to be heard. Principal Damocles looked overwhelmed as he tried to sort out the confusion.

Suddenly a piercing shriek sliced through the hubbub.

‘The girls’ toilets are overflowing,’ someone in the crowd yelled.

‘Couldn’t you get that massive turd to flush, Chloé?’ Kim hollered exuberantly, before he doubled over laughing.

This seemed to be the final straw for Inspector Débauché.

‘Enough,’ he screeched.

The courtyard fell silent, with only the sound of running water filling the void.

Inspector Débauché was huffing and red-faced, his hands curled into fists as his shoulders hunched. ‘I’ve had enough of this dishonest, filthy, and repugnant school.’

‘Come now,’ Principal Damocles said, with his hands raised to try and calm the other man down, but Ancien refused to listen.

‘No. Principal Damocles, this is appalling. I knew this school had its faults, but this is inexcusable. Immoral boys, filthy girls, and thieves abound. Clearly, this environment is not producing decent members of society. You’re more likely to turn out prostitutes and drug addicts.’

There was a collective gasp from staff and students, but Principal Damocles glowered fiercely at him.

‘My school may not – ’

‘No,’ Ancien cut him off. ‘This is not a school, but a house of cretins. I’ll make my report to the Board and the Minister, and see that this hell hole is shut down for good, you have my word.’

The mutinous grumblings turned to shocked silence as Inspector Débauché finally departed.


	36. Chloé

In the wake of Ancien Débauché’s dramatic exit, Principal Damocles sent all the students home early so he could focus on finding out what went wrong, and what he could do to mitigate the damage. Marinette, however, was not so lenient.

‘My house. Now,’ she commanded.

After fetching their belongings, Chloé followed the other girls with a terrible feeling settling in her guts. They trooped by the bakery and solemnly marched up to Marinette's room in silence. After they sat in their customary places, the weighted hush began to feel oppressive.

‘What just happened?’ Rose eventually asked.

Marinette put her hands on her hips. ‘Aside from an obvious play by the boys, I don’t know. What do you think, Chloé?’

She stiffened at Marinette's emphasis on her name.

‘Hey, it’s not my fault.’

‘Then whose fault is it? I'm not the one who got the Board to send an inspector.’

‘I thought you were glad he was coming; that this was the perfect opportunity to use operation Battle Armour, and get rid of the boys once and for all.’

‘And just look at how that turned out,’ Alya spat from her place by the wall. ‘We wouldn’t be facing the risk of closure at all if the Inspector hadn’t showed up.’

Chloé stood up and stomped her foot. ‘It’s not my fault. I'm just as much a victim here as you.’

Alya curled her lip. ‘Please, Bourgeois. We know it was your mother who contacted the Board. The only question is why she would do that. She’s never cared before.’

Chloé gulped as the blood drained from her face. The others turned to stare at her as comprehension dawned.

‘You snitched to your parents?’ Alix gasped.

‘No,’ she denied vehemently, ‘I only wanted a bit of comfort, that’s all.’

‘You totally snitched,’ Juleka muttered.

‘You’re all being ridiculous. There’s a difference between asking for a bit of help, and tattling.’

‘Except when your “asking” ends in the permanent closure of our school,’ Marinette told her.

Chloé could tell there was no reasoning with them. They were angry and looking for someone to blame, but rather than examine their own flaws and role in the closing of their school, they sought to use Chloé as a scapegoat.

‘Whatever,’ she huffed. ‘I'm out.’

Shouldering her bag, she strode from the room while Sabrina dithered behind her, caught between her loyalty to the sorority, and her friendship with Chloé. Rather than wait, Chloé made the decision for her by slamming the trapdoor shut on her way out.

_No sense in both of us getting punished_ , she reasoned.

She made her way back to the hotel alone, keeping up her façade of cool indifference until her suite door had closed behind her. Only then did she allow the cracks to show.

Throwing herself face-down on her bed, Chloé wailed long and loud. She mourned the loss of everything she knew, from her school, to her only friend. She regretted ever getting caught up in the war against the boys, and the subsequent loss of Adrien whom she had missed desperately while his father kept him in lockdown.

She cried bitterly at the loss of sisterhood between herself and the other girls, but was simultaneously furious at how easily they’d turned against her. They were a fickle group, but they had been the only people she’d ever met who weren’t cowed by her father’s authority, or impressed by her mother’s status. They accepted her for who she was, not for what she could give them. Chloé would never admit it, but losing them hurt.

After her wretched sobbing eased into strained hiccups, a knock sounded on her door. It opened without invitation when Audrey let herself in. She stood at the foot of Chloé’s bed, observing for a moment, with her hands on her hips and her brows raised.

‘What’s wrong with you now?’

In an instant, Chloé’s misery morphed into simmering resentment. She glared over her shoulder at her mother with red-rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks.

‘What did you do?’ she hissed.

‘Do? What ever do you mean?’

Chloé sat up, but kept her back to Audrey, opting instead to keep looking over her shoulder. Ignoring the discomfort, she continued. ‘You said you’d take care of it, but you didn’t take care of anything. The school’s going to be shut down. Everything is ruined because of you, so what did you do?’

Her voice rose with every word until she was shouting and panting for breath, but Audrey remained unmoved.

‘You ungrateful little beast. You told me that school made you unhappy, so being the kind, diligent parent that I am, threatened to have the place shut down.’

Chloé blinked in astonishment. ‘What?’

‘Except,’ she went on as if she hadn’t heard, ‘apparently neither I, nor your father, had the jurisdiction to close a school. So, then I called the school board, the Board of Education, and the Minister for Education and complained to them directly about the poor treatment you received.

‘Sadly, they said they couldn’t close a school without just cause, so we reached a compromise. They would send an independent inspector, and based on his report, they would make the decision on whether to close the school or not.’

Chloé felt conflicted. She was angry with her mother’s interference, and indirect responsibility for shutting the school down, but she was also touched that Audrey had gone to all that effort on her behalf. It was more than she could ever remember her mother doing for her before.

‘I didn’t want the school to shut down,’ she explained in a subdued tone. ‘I just wanted the boys to be taken away, and have an all-girls’ school again.’

Audrey tilted her head. ‘But you said everyone wronged you, remember? I know you mentioned the boys specifically last time, but that wasn’t the only instance when something at school upset you. I thought you wanted it all gone.’

Chloé shook her head. ‘I just wanted things to back to how they were.’

‘Well, I can’t help you there. What are your friends going to do?’

Her shoulders sagged as she hung her head. ‘I don’t have any friends. They threw me out for tattling.’

Audrey blinked as she rested one elbow in the palm of her free hand. ‘Goodness, why would you even care about people like that? I should think you’d be glad to be rid of such dead weight.’

‘It’s complicated, ok? You wouldn’t get it.’

‘What, you think I don’t understand what it’s like to be lonely? To be raised by wealthy and influential people who intimidated everyone I met? To finally find acceptance among those who didn’t deserve me, but I tolerated anyway because they were so different from what I was raised with? Your situation is not unique, you know.’

Slowly, Chloé turned to face Audrey with wide eyes.

‘Of course I know what it’s like, Chloé. I've been where you are, though the circumstances are different. However, the question remains the same. What are you going to do about it?’

With that, Audrey turned around and walked out, closing the door behind her. Chloé stared after her in stunned silence, her mother’s parting question still echoing in her mind.


	37. Alya

The atmosphere in the courtyard on Tuesday morning was bleak. Everyone stared listlessly into the middle distance, without caring if they sat next to friend or foe.

_This is grim,_ Alya observed.

Marinette appeared at her shoulder looking dishevelled, exhausted, and irritable. The heavy shadows under her eyes indicated a restless night with little to no sleep, undoubtedly caused by the predicament they now found themselves in.

‘I don’t know what to do,’ she said by way of greeting.

Her voice was hoarse, her eyelids drooped, and her posture was so slumped, Alya directed her to a vacant bench before she fell over.

Marinette sat down heavily, then Alya rubbed her back.

‘One thing at a time, M. Let’s start with Chloé. How do you want to discipline her?’

She knew it was the one thing about Marinette’s position she loathed, but as of this moment, it was also the most straightforward.

Marinette shook her head. ‘Forget it. There's no point in punishment if we’re all going to be split up.’

Alya sighed as she looked away. She didn’t want to think about it, but chances were all their friends and classmates would be divided into different schools near their own neighbourhoods. A few would be fortunate enough to meet again in a new school, but they’d never be able to recreate what they’d formed at _Collège Françoise Dupont_.

‘So, we’re just giving up, even after we’ve fought so hard?’

Marinette sighed and flapped her hands in a limp shrug. ‘Unless someone can come up with a viable alternative, yeah.’

She slouched over until her head rested on Alya’s shoulder, while the other girls slowly trickled in to sit around them. Marinette dozed while Alya filled them in, and predictably, they were not happy.

‘We let Chloé go, just like that? What a load of bull,’ seethed Alix. ‘Could we at least threaten the inspector into changing his report?’

Alya shook her head. ‘I don’t see that helping our cause at all. If anything, it might make it worse.’

‘What if we hosted a fundraiser?’ Rose suggested. ‘Like a bake sale, or a flea market?’

Again, Alya dismissed the idea. ‘It’s not a question of money anymore. Inspector Débauché now has it in for our school, and wants to see it shut for good.’

‘Then how about a PR stunt?’ Juleka murmured. ‘It’ll raise the school’s profile, and make us look good to the public. We could win their sympathies, then they’d take up the fight for us.’

‘It may be too little too late, but we’ll keep it on the shortlist. Too many people know our reputation already, but it can’t hurt to make it look like we’re trying to turn things around.’

‘Word will spread that we’re closing soon, and the rumours will fly,’ Marinette cut in. ‘People will recognise a PR stunt for the last-ditch effort it is, and lose interest. Besides, if we’re identified as former students here, we may have difficulties enrolling in new schools later. No one will want to take in known delinquents.’

The girls lapsed into a glum silence, which was then shattered by the morning bell. They hauled themselves to their feet and trudged upstairs, ignoring the boys coming in behind them. For once, not even Alya had the energy to mess with them.

Caline entered the classroom looking as haggard and morose as the rest of them; even her smile had lost its lustre. She did her best to greet them with cheer, but it fell flat, prompting her to drop all pretence.

Just as she was about to call attendance, Chloé strode in with her head held high. She slid into her usual place without acknowledging the unfriendly stares from the other girls, and settled in.

Alya rolled her eyes, wishing Marinette had gone through with her disciplinary actions.

* * *

The morning passed uneventfully, but no one commented on their class’ involvement in the closing of their school, or the inevitable transfers to new schools. Alya figured the teachers were under orders to cram in as much learning as possible before they were all sent their separate ways. Unfortunately, none of it was sinking in. She was too busy thinking of ways to keep the school open, and jotting down the more doable schemes before she forgot them.

Alix’s idea of threatening the inspector was too rash and heavy-handed, which could put them in trouble with the law.

_But if we could convince him to change his report, we might have a chance_ , she thought.

She was still thinking over her options when the lunch bell rang.

As the girls gathered around a table in the cafeteria, she gave them her rough outline, then sat back to await their approval or input.

‘It has merit,’ Lila drawled.

‘Yeah, but he hates us,’ argued Alix. ‘He won’t want to listen long enough for us to convince him.’

‘That's where it all kinda falls down,’ Alya admitted. ‘We need to think of something that’ll change his opinion of us, or find something that grabs his attention, and make him listen.’

They all flinched when a hand slammed down on the table. As one, they turned to see Chloé standing over them with a stern expression.

‘Listen up, bitches, ‘cause I’m only going to say this once. I've watched my Daddy win all of his elections, and the key to winning is ruining your opponent.’

‘Your point, Bourgeois?’ Alya prodded irritably.

Chloé huffed. ‘Dig up some dirt on this scumbag and blackmail him. Sabrina has access to her dad’s files, so I'm sure she can find something, and I know you’re good with computers, Césaire. Make something up if you have to, as long as it’s incriminating and could get him fired, if not arrested.’

Alya paused as she considered it. ‘Sabrina and I can dig up some dirt, but getting the really juicy stuff will require an expert. So, if we’re considering faking the evidence, then maybe we could doctor an image “proving” that Débauché is a massive pervert. However, my skills aren’t great. What we’d need is a tech geek with photoshop expertise.’

‘Where do we find someone like that?’ asked Sabrina.

Chloé crossed her arms. ‘Well girls, I suggest you swallow your pride and consider an alliance with the boys. God knows, you won’t be able to pull this off by yourselves.’

Alya glowered up at her. ‘Watch yourself, Bourgeois. We still have unfinished business with you, and how you talk to us will determine the severity of your punishment.’

Chloé snorted derisively, and gave a flippant wave. ‘As if you still have any authority here, but you keep grasping at those delusions, Césaire.’

She walked away, leaving the girls grumbling empty threats and insults behind her.

_I hate that she has a point_ , Alya pouted, _on every count_.

Reluctantly, she turned to Marinette.

‘What do you think, M? Should we consider a temporary truce with the boys?’

Marinette frowned as she weighed her options. ‘I guess we don’t have anything to lose.’

_Except the entire school_. Alya heaved a deep sigh.


	38. Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, with the boys...

Adrien accompanied his friends, including Mylène and Marc, to their favourite fast-food place for lunch. The restaurant had become their safe haven during school hours, as it was free of the girls’ influence and therefore held no risk of tampering or contamination. No one cared that it wasn’t healthy, or even particularly good, they just knew they could eat in peace without having to look over their shoulders.

‘I can’t believe they’re going to close the school,’ Nathaniel murmured.

Max hummed in agreement. ‘After everything the girls are alleged to have done over the years, it’s a wonder it didn’t happen sooner.’

‘The girls actually looked upset. Well, except Chloé,’ Kim added.

Adrien set his drink aside, his brow furrowed. ‘I wonder if there’s anything we can do to save it.’

‘Save it?’ Ivan repeated, aghast. ‘Are you mental?’

Mylène looked worried. ‘Why would you even care about what happens to that place? After everything that happened, I thought you’d be glad to leave.’

Nino was shaking his head before she’d even finished speaking. ‘Nah, I agree with Adrien. It’s exactly because we’ve endured so much, and fought so hard, that we owe it to ourselves to try and keep going there.’

‘Precisely,’ Adrien confirmed. He chose not to comment on the fact that _Collège Françoise Dupont_ was the first school he had ever been to, and to have to relocate would risk Gabriel pulling him out altogether.

He was pleased to see that Max and Nathaniel seemed thoughtful, though Ivan and Kim looked militant.

_Not without good reason_ , Adrien conceded.

‘But how would we convince the Board of Education and the Minister for Education to keep the school open after Inspector Débauché’s report?’ Marc asked.

They fell into a thoughtful silence.

‘I suppose we could start a petition,’ suggested Nathaniel.

‘Or stage a protest,’ Mylène put in. She shrugged helplessly at Ivan when he turned to her in surprise, but he relented with more grace than Adrien would’ve guessed.

‘Fine. You could take the protest thing a step further with a lock-in, but I don’t want you to chain yourself to the door, or something stupid like that,’ he told her sternly.

She smiled and rested her head against his arm, while he acted like he wasn’t blushing.

_Cute_ , Adrien thought with a warm smile.

‘Well, since you guys are so invested, I guess I can help too,’ Kim sighed. ‘But don’t expect me to stick around afterward.’

Nino patted his shoulder. ‘Understandable.’

‘Ok, so how do we start a petition?’ Adrien enquired. ‘Do we go door to door, approach people on the street, or start a Twitter poll?’

Marc frowned. ‘I don’t think a petition would help us much.’

‘Why not?’

Looking around the table, Marc met the gaze of everyone there. ‘Because even before we started attending _Françoise Dupont_ , we knew the school’s reputation. Any student within a ten-mile radius knows how bad it is, and if they know, you can bet everyone else does too. Word of mouth can spread like wildfire, and is just as damaging.’

Nino leaned back and groaned. ‘He’s got a point.’

‘What about that lock-in Ivan mentioned?’ Kim ventured.

Mylène bit her lip. ‘My dad has a master key. He’d have to bow to the pressure the Minister and the Board put on him to open the doors if he ever wants to work again. I’d rather not put him in that position if I can help it.’

‘Could we chain the door shut, without your dad being any the wiser?’ asked Adrien.

She shook her head. ‘They’d just call the fire department and have them cut the chain, then everyone inside could be arrested or charged for trespassing.’

They all groaned in defeat.

Dejected, they finished their meals and headed back to school. Adrien hung behind the rest, worried about how his father was going to react to the news. He hadn’t yet told Gabriel about the inspection, or its disastrous conclusion, fearing the environment would be deemed unsafe according to Gabriel's exacting standards. Furthermore, he had argued vehemently to be permitted to go to school. Admitting how far things had gotten out of hand would be like ceding defeat, and for better or worse, Adrien had inherited his father’s pride. He stifled a groan when no new ideas to save the school, or himself, were forthcoming.

_I’m doomed_ , he whined internally.

The group marched miserably through the courtyard and to the locker room. The only upside to the whole debacle was that, by unspoken agreement, the prank war had come to a ceasefire. The boys were still deeply suspicious, but no one tampered with the lockers, or fooled around on school grounds. It was a reprieve Adrien was most thankful for.

Suddenly, he was aware of a presence in the doorway. Turning around, he saw a mass of girls, headed by Marinette, looking grim but resolute.

‘Now what?’ Nino grumbled.

Marinette, backed by the other girls, marched inside to stand before him and Nino. Adrien closed his locker before turning to face her, giving her the courtesy of his undivided attention. Nino shut his own locker with a snap, then crossed his arms as he stared the girls down, but they remained where they were.

Marinette folded her arms with an expression of distaste. ‘We have a proposition to make.’

‘Regarding?’ Nino prompted.

‘Saving our school.’

‘Oh, so it’s our school now?’ snapped Kim. ‘How nice and convenient for you.’

Marinette dropped her arms with a sigh. ‘Look, I won’t deny the bad blood between us; I’m just proposing a temporary alliance in which we’ll work together to save the school.’

Adrien tilted his head. ‘You have a plan?’

She nodded, as Adrien considered the proposal.

‘You can’t be serious,’ demanded Kim.

At the same time, Nino yelped, ‘what?’

Adrien turned and held up his hand for silence. ‘There’s no harm in hearing them out. Let’s listen to what they have to say, then we’ll make a decision about whether we want to help them or not. Sound fair?’

‘But they’re the enemy,’ hissed Nathaniel.

‘We’re not agreeing to anything up front. If we don’t like their plan, we back out and hope we can think of something ourselves. No pressure, guys.’

They acquiesced with mutinous mutterings, so Adrien turned back to Marinette.

‘Ok, let’s hear it.’

She cleared her throat. ‘We believe the best course of action is to hit before the Minister for Education receives word of what happened. To that end, we’re prepared to convince Inspector Débauché to change his report into something positive that will allow _Collège Françoise Dupont_ to remain open.’

‘Convince him how?’

Alya stepped forward. ‘As you saw, Inspector Débauché has a penchant for younger girls. So, all we need to do is contact him and say that we’ll go to his superiors, the media, or even the police with evidence of him acting inappropriately while on the job if he doesn’t change his report how we want.’

‘Isn’t that blackmail?’ Marc asked dubiously.

‘It’s a felony,’ Nathaniel replied darkly.

Nino also looked unconvinced. ‘Setting aside the obvious moral questions this raises, won’t this just turn into a “he said, she said” debate? You have no evidence, and whoever you go to with this will want proof.’

‘That’s where you lot come in,’ Marinette explained. ‘Not only would you provide witness testimonies, should it come to that, you’ll also help us provide that concrete evidence.’

Adrien narrowed his eyes, feeling leery. ‘What would you have us do?’

‘We know at least one of you is good with a computer, so we’d have him doctor an image incriminating Inspector Débauché. Alya and Sabrina have already agreed to look into the police files to see if he has any priors, and track down his residential address. We’ll then go to him directly and convince him to change his report before he sends it off.’

‘What makes you think he hasn’t sent it already?’ asked Max.

‘There’s no guarantee, of course, but we’re hoping he’s been too aggravated to sit down and write it,’ Alya answered. ‘But even if he has sent it off, we hope to get him to write a retraction, saying he was too hasty, and doesn’t really want the school shut down.’

Nathaniel stepped forward. ‘I can manipulate any picture you want, but have you thought about what you want to say to him, and how?’

Alix slammed a fist into her free palm. ‘Yeah, leave our school alone, or you’ll regret pissing us off.’

Nathaniel exchanged a look with Marc. ‘You’ll only incriminate yourselves if you approach him face to face. Perhaps you should leave it to us to write him a letter.’

Marinette perked up. ‘Does this mean you’ll help us?’

Adrien held up his index finger, indicating she wait a minute, while he huddled with the rest of the boys.

‘I don’t know, man,’ Nino drawled. ‘If this goes pear shaped, it’ll be easy for them to turn it back on us.’

‘They have nothing to gain by betraying us,’ Adrien replied, ‘and everything to lose if we back out.’

‘So, you’re saying they’d be indebted to us?’ said Kim.

‘No, since we’d all benefit from working together.’

‘Obviously, they’re desperate,’ Nathaniel added, ‘or they wouldn’t be asking. If either side betrayed the other, this whole operation falls down. We’d have no choice but to trust each other.’

‘Or trust that we have the same goals,’ Mylène put in.

‘I’ll understand if you don’t want to be a part of this,’ Adrien said to Kim and Mylène, ‘no one is going to force you. But let the rest of us do what we can to save _Françoise Dupont_ , even if that means working closely with the girls. Maybe they’re not so bad, once you get to know them.’

There was a lacklustre moan of agreement, then they broke their huddle. Adrien turned back to Marinette, and held out his hand.

‘We’re in.’


End file.
